JOHOR BARU: Vegetables, especially those imported from China, are more expensive now following the recent fuel price increase and the start of the rainy season.
Vegetable seller Latipah Dardak, 43, said that although a price increase was expected, some suppliers were taking advantage of the situation.
Vegetable suppliers would have had extra stock stored but we noticed an immediate increase by about 20 sen per kilo after the fuel price went up last week.
“Of course, we received complaints from customers but most of them understand and accept the fact that they have to pay more,” she said.
She said some of the vegetables brought in from China included carrots, tomatoes and ginger.
“Carrots were priced at about RM1.30 per kilo and now they are sold at RM1.80. It is the same for tomatoes which were previously priced at RM1.50 per kilo and are now RM1.80,” she said, adding that the price of ginger had gone up from RM4.80 per kilo to RM5.60.
Latipah, who has been in the business for more than eight years, said fuel price increases always brought about a ripple effect on many other sectors.
“I’m not sure if the price will continue to go up because the rainy season has also started and there is a drop in the supply of several types of vegetables like sawi (mustard greens), bayam (spinach) and kangkung (water spinach),” she said.
Another vegetable seller D. Subramaniam, 50, said it was normal for vegetable prices to fluctuate.
People assume that it is because of the fuel price increase but it is the weather that often determines the price of vegetables.
“The rainy season often causes a reduction in produce and this is the main reason for the the price increases,” he said, adding that the fuel hike was a secondary factor.
Johor Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (Fama) director Faridulatrash Md Mokri said it was usual for the price of vegetables to increase especially during the rainy season.
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