FARMERS have warned of expensive vegetables in the Lunar New Year because of floods in the monsoon season.

The farmers said vegetables planted on the lowlands would be destroyed in a flood, which could cut the supply of produce by up to 15%.

The Chinese New Year falls on January 22 while the monsoon season is slated to start mid-November.

Kuala Lumpur Vegetable Wholesalers’ Association president Wong Keng Fatt  said supply will only return to normal in February.

“Any flood later this month and the next will definitely affect the supply of vegetables in January and that in turn will cause prices to skyrocket when the lunar new year demand kicks in,” he said.

Meanwhile, oversupply of cucumbers have caused prices to plummet.

“When the prices for cucumbers were good in the last two to three months, many farmers started growing it.

“What we have now is a glut.”

Wong said tomatoes currently cost RM1.80 to RM2 per kg – lower than the RM3 per kg of last year.

“The foreign workers have returned and the manpower shortage faced by the farms has eased.

Wong said two years ago, tomatoes were selling for RM10 per kg. 

Seafood affected too

Federation of Vegetable Farmers Associations of Malaysia president Lim Ser Kwee said the supply of vegetables would definitely be affected by the monsoon and the flood.

On the supply of fish, Kuala Lumpur Hoi Seong Fish Wholesaler Association chairman Sing Kian Hock said the supply currently was adequate but expected to plummet when the seas turn rough.

“It’s true that when the monsoon comes, the catch is reduced but a reduced catch is not having much impact now,” he said.

That is because demand for seafood had taken a dip post-Covid pandemic.

“People are eating less seafood.”

Nonetheless, Sing said fish such as the black pomfret would be hard to find during the Chinese New Year.

He said this is because seafood restaurants are buying up all the pomfret directly from the fishing boats.

“They are snapped up as soon as the boats dock.” – November 3, 2022.