KUALA TERENGGANU: Expect pricier fresh meats this month due to higher demands this Ramdan.
A survey at Pasar Tani Hiliran here on Saturday found that the price of fresh meat were sold at RM35 per kg, an RM1 increase compared to last week's RM34 Trader Nor Azilah Aziz, 40, said she had to hike up prices of fresh beef and mutton at her stall after suppliers raised their prices.
She said the price of meat obtained from suppliers is RM32, while mutton (local) is RM45.
"The price of beef sold today (Saturday) is RM35, up RM1 since yesterday (Friday) while the price of fresh mutton sold is RM47, which is up RM2 compared to RM45 last week.
"Prices of mutton are still in the low category between RM50 to RM55 every 1kgs," she said. Nor Azilah said the quantity of meat sold was also doubled due to the increase in customers buying in conjunction with Ramadan.
"Today (Saturday) we added almost twice as much beef to 600kg compared to sales on a normal day of 200kg.
"As for mutton, the supply has increased to 110kg from 50kg on a normal day," she said Another trader, Ahmad Danial Haris Amruzi, 24, said the meat supply was difficult to obtain causing the price hike. "Usually, by Ramadan, meat supply is quite difficult to obtain due to high demand which indirectly causes an increase in prices."So far, I have received supplies from three suppliers, including from outside Terengganu," he said, who also increased the sales quantity from 100kg to 500kg to meet customer demand.
In other developments, traders in Johor Bharu claim that they were still experiencing a supply shortage for chicken.
The supply of fresh goods sold in public markets around the city is sufficient to meet the needs of the community, especially during this Ramadan.
A survey by Sinar Ahad at the Larkin Public Market here found that the average trader who sells fish, raw meat, and vegetables had no problem getting its stock.
However, traders claim that they still faced chicken supply shortage. According to the chicken seller, Mohd Yusof Md Yunos, the situation has been ongoing for the past few months.
He said there were difficulties in getting chicken orders where he finds it difficult to get the amount of stock ordered on a daily basis."Usually, I will order as many as 300 but I receive only 200 chickens. We can sell them because some have already leased it, that is, demand from restaurants and so on.
"It's just that when we sell in the market, how much is left if one restaurant takes 20 to 30 chickens. So I am even more worried during this fasting month, ” he said when met at the Larkin Public Market here on Saturday.
Meanwhile, in Kuala Lumpur, the Selayang Daily Market is also busier than usual following the increase in buyers, especially among Muslims, buying raw materials in preparation for Ramadan.
Fourty-year-old Irwan Idris said he would finish sellong his chicken supplyas early as 5am.
He said despite receiving high demand among consumers, small traders do not seem to be able to supply chicken in large quantities due to problems in obtaining stock.
"Supply is available but limited. I asked for 200 chickens but only 100 chickens could be provided by the supplier. I’m not sure this supply issue stems from the farm or the middlemen controlling the supply.
"When stocks are limited, we small traders can only sell to customers who make early bookings and cannot provide excess sales to customers who come on a walk-in basis"Meanwhile, in terms of price, we sell it according to the price set by the government with a retail price of RM8.80 per kg," he explained.