As for me, I have seen the general prices of food increasing in leaps and bounds! Just last weekend my wife went to purchase a can of sweetened condense milk and she said it was so expensive. She recalled buying it for around RM2, but now she paid about RM3 for it. Now that's about 33% increase!
And yet the Government is still spewing out imaginary CPI index of 5%. In their attempt to show that the country living index is stable to woo in foreigners perhaps to take up MM2H, they forget the real tax contributors are the majority that live and work in Malaysia!
Manpower woe in Cameron Highlands partly to blame for rising veggie prices
Tuesday November 8, 2011
IPOH: The rising prices of vegetables in the country is not solely due to the floods in Thailand or current monsoon season, said the Cameron Highlands Vegetable Growers Association's secretary-general Chay Ee Mong.
He said the amnesty programme for foreign workers, conducted a few months back, had caused a shortage of manpower at vegetable farms in Cameron Highlands.
"About 50% of foreign workers in Cameron Highlands have run away, disrupting productivity at the 2,500 farms on the highland," he said, adding that they were afraid of the Government's effort to legalise them.
"Now, with the floods in Thailand and current monsoon season wreaking havoc at our farms, productivity has dropped even further to 350 metric tonnes from 500 metric tonnes previously.
"Our production currently stands at only 30% of what it used to be and less produce means pricier vegetables," he said
Chay added that a third of the nation's vegetable supply came from Cameron Highlands.
In GEORGE TOWN, consumers will now have to pay more for imported cili padi and red chillies as the prices have increased by an average of 100% following the severe flooding in Thailand.
A check by The Star at the Bayan Baru wet market revealed that the prices of cili padi and red chillies were between RM14 and RM16 per kilo.
Vegetable trader Lai Huat, 45, said cili padi was selling at RM6 per kilo prior to the floods but was now RM14 per kilo.
"The price of other vegetables imported from Thailand such as coriander has also risen from RM12 per kilo to RM16 per kilo.
"The supply of lettuce has dropped by 20% to 30%," he said, adding that heavy rains in Cameron Highlands had affected the price of red chillies.
"The wet season caused a slight increase in the price of local red chillies from RM14 to RM16 per kilo," he said. -- The Star
Thai floods and labour shortage drive up price of vegetables
Tuesday November 8, 2011
PETALING JAYA: There seems to be no relief for consumers from rising vegetable prices.
The price of chilli is red-hot, spiking to as high as RM24 per kilo in some parts of the country.
French beans are the second most expensive, selling at between RM6 and RM10 per kilo.
Prior to the big floods in Thailand, red and green chilli were sold at only RM4 to RM5 a kilo.
The Kuala Lumpur Vegetable Wholesalers Association is anticipating that prices in the northern states will remain high even after the floodwaters subside.
The situation is not about to get any better, with vegetable growers in Cameron Highlands complaining that their foreign workers, fearful of the Government's legalisation exercise, had run off. -- The Star
Soaring chilli prices leave consumers fuming
Tuesday November 8, 2011
JOHOR BARU: Many customers here are seeing red over the rising prices of red chillies.
"We cannot do anything," said vegetable seller Yu Wee Wen, 45. "We are forced to buy the chillies from Thailand at a higher price."
Currently, red chillies are being sold for as high as RM17 per kilo while cili padi is RM14 per kilo.
Previously, red chillies were priced at RM6 per kilo and cili padi, RM5 per kilo.
Another vegetable seller at Kipmart Tampoi here, Badi Hassan Mohammad, said some customers would storm off without buying anything.
"Only when they realise that chillies are expensive everywhere else then would they come back to me," said the 27-year-old.
Another seller at the Larkin market, Rusdi Abu Bakar, 40, said the last time that the price of chillies soared was when there was political turmoil in Thailand.
He said they also imported other vegetables such as tomatoes and long beans from Thailand, but the prices for these items remained the same.
Johor Bumiputra Consumer Association deputy president Abdul Majid Kayat said consumers should understand the reason behind the high price of chillies.
Vegetable sellers also said that they had noticed an increase in buyers from Singapore in the last two weeks.
Rusdi Abu Bakar, 40, who mans a stall at the Larkin market said although he had customers from Singapore previously, their number had increased of late.
"The prices here are much lower than in Singapore and frankly, we are not complaining," he said.
In Petaling Jaya, the prices at the morning markets in Klang yesterday were RM11 for green chillies and RM12 for the red variety.
The highest price of red chillies recorded in the past week was at the SS15 market in Subang Jaya – RM24 per kilo on Nov 4.
A check on the Pengguna Bijak (1MPB) portal showed that green chillies sold at morning markets in the capital city ranged from RM10 to RM15 per kilo. Red chillies are being sold from RM10 onwards. -- The Star
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