Vegetables to cost more during CNY

Shortage of supply may raise prices of greens
By Foong Thim Leng
Wednesday January 20, 2010

Cameron Highlands: Prices of vegetables with names that symbolise good tidings are expected to go up during Chinese New Year because of higher demand and lower supply.

Supply of the vegetables is expected to be lower because farms here were recently affected by bad weather, said Cameron Highlands Vegetable Growers Association secretary-general Chay Ee Mong.

These include pak choy (cabbage – which gives the meaning of wealth), sang choy (lettuce – longevity), spring onions (chung – wisdom) and leeks (suan, which rhymes with "counting" in Mandarin).

Chay said demand for local vegetables would also increase as imports from China were expected to cost 30% more because heavy snowfall there resulted in poor harvests.

"We expect imports to be less as China has to feed its own population," he said in an interview.

Chay added that the price of leafy greens such as sawi from the highlands was affected by the big production of the vegetable from lowland farmers.

---

Vege prices up, pork to cost more due to high demand and low supply

Chinese New Year reunion dinners and other festive meals are going to cost more as prices of popular festive vegetables and pork keep escalating.

Cameron Highlands Vegetable Growers Association secretary-general Chay Ee Mong said prices of pak choy (cabbage), sang choy (lettuce) and suan (leeks) — vegetables that symbolise good tidings — are expected to increase by as much as 30% due to high demand and low supply.

Prices of live pigs have risen by 4% since last October, from RM730 per 100kg to RM760, and the price of pork from RM14 to RM22 per kg during the same period because of a reduction in porkers (adult pigs) by breeders due to disease and culling of old sows.

To stabilise the rising pork prices the Veterinary Services Department has stepped in to relax the import conditions for pork and pork-based products, while the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry will for the first time put pork under the price control list along with sugar and other essential items for Chinese New Year. -- The Star News.