IPOH: Poor weather and reduced production have led to an increase in vegetable prices and should these factors persist, prices are expected to soar even higher for the Chinese New Year period.
Cameron Highlands Vegetable Growers Association secretary Chay Ee Mong said harvests and the quality of the vegetables had been dropping due to the year-end monsoon season.
"Bad weather will affect the production of vegetables, so when supply is low but demand is high, this will cause prices to rise. This depends on supply and demand.
"It has been raining in the highlands since last week and some places were affected by flash floods which has not only affected supply but also the quality of vegetables," he told the New Straits Times.
Chay said the types vegetables which are expected to see a price hike of between 20 per cent and 30 per cent were tomatoes, cucumbers, chilies, beans, capsicum and selected leafy vegetables.
However, he said consumers could choose other types of leafy vegetables that were still priced low, such as spinach and cabbage.
Chay cautioned that should the bad weather persist, it would also affect supply and demand for the Chinese New Year celebration, which falls in January next year.
"The bad weather is expected to last until January and some of the vegetables require a month to fully grow. It is hard to predict because it is an uncontrollable event.
"Unlike previous years, the farmers here know that the monsoon season usually would last until January but these days, we can never say," he said.
Chay said up to 2,000 vegetable farmers in Cameron Highlands have taken the initiative to invest in glass houses and rain shelters but this was not a complete solution to protect the crops.
"We are currently experiencing low temperatures, which can affect the vegetables. At night time, the temperature can hit between 15 and 16 degrees Celsius and during the day, the temperature can reach below 20 degrees Celcius.
"Despite having a roof, but if the weather is not suitable or too cold, the growth of vegetables will be stagnant as trees require the photosynthesis process," he said.
Chay added that the farmers here could not afford to build greenhouses like in some European countries, which could cost millions of ringgit.
"We can't be like the Netherlands. The country uses greenhouses where they can control the temperature, water and so on. We can't do it here because it is too expensive," he said.
As such, Chay said it was paramount for the government to have a good policy to increase local products, instead of depending on imports.
"Malaysia currently imports about 70 per cent of its vegetables. They said that it is cheaper to import.
"But the situation has changed. When there is less supply worldwide, price hikes will happen, affecting the import of vegetables," he said.
Meanwhile, checks at the Kampung Tawas and Ipoh market here showed that the price of cucumber, green mustard (sawi), celery leaves, snake gourd (petola), pepper and chilies have soared.
A vegetable seller, Fatimah Sulaiman, 57 said the price of cucumbers rose to RM7 per kilogram (kg) compared to RM3 before, celery leaves rose to RM21 per kg from RM10, while spring onions are now sold at RM15 per kg, large peppers (RM13 per kg) and lettuce (RM2 per kg).
She added that prices are expected to continue to rise due to high demand during the school holidays, in addition to the uncertain supply factor due to the weather.
Another seller, who wished to be known as Chan, said that he previously sold green mustard and kailan at RM3.50 per kg, but had to raise the selling price of both vegetables to RM7 per kg.
"This situation has left many consumers complaining. Some of them buy in smaller quantities, but most of them no longer want to buy vegetables," he said.