Vendors struggling to keep business afloat

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SIBU: Chicken vendors here are struggling for survival, and unless running cost is lowered they are not likely to pull through.

DIFFICULT TIME: Yot (right) attends to a customer at her stall.

DIFFICULT TIME: Yot (right) attends to a customer at her stall.

They said they were tearing their hair out to keep their business afloat, especially on weekdays.

Yot Jerani, for one, said she looked forward to weekends and festive seasons as that was when there was better business for her.

“In all honesty, unlike years back, it is becoming increasingly difficult to make ends meet now. There is not much business for us during weekdays.

“We are making a shoe-string profit from the sale of standard chicken bearing in mind we need to spend at least RM12 a day on ice to keep the chicken fresh,” she lamented.

She uses a lot of plastic bags in her trade too, and the sad thing was that plastic bags were also getting costlier.

The sum of all these, she said, made it all the more difficult for her to do business these days.

Interviewed by The Borneo Post yesterday, Yot said she was now hoping that chicken suppliers would lower the price of every chicken supplied by RM1.

She said chicken vendors would not hike the price of chicken without the approval of the authority.

“We’re still selling the standard chicken at RM8 per kg,” she said.

Having been in the trade for 30 years, she knew hiking the price would only bring down sales.

Another vendor, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he supported Yot’s appeal to the chicken suppliers to lower the price of their supply.

“Things are costly these days unlike back in the 80s. Take the plastic bags which we use daily for example. The price had since gone up and this eats into our shoe-string profit,” he grimaced.

He complained that the impact of global economic meltdown had slowed down their business as consumers were spending less on chicken.

For that, he believed that if suppliers could consider to lower the price of chicken, they would be better able to sustain their business.

He said he could not ask more for every chicken sold because the price of chicken was to some extent controlled.

His counterpart Ting Leong Sing, however, anticipated a price increase for chicken in the not so far distance.

“The hike is inevitable given the increase in chicken feed,” Ting explained.

The Ministry of Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism (MDTCC) Sibu branch head Balraj Singh assured the public that his office was keeping close tabs on the market situation.

He confirmed that the ceiling prices of standard and super chicken are RM8 and RM8.80 per kg respectively, while live chicken was at RM6.70 per kg.

“We had a meeting with traders dealing with essential items last December on the matter.

“They had given me their assurance that they would maintain the prices of essential items and that the supply was suffice for the coming Chinese New Year,” Balraj said.

Prices of other essential items including eggs were stable as well, he assured.

Towards this end, the officer warned that they would not hesitate to take stern action against errant traders who hiked the prices of controlled items.

Asked on the Chinese New Year price-controlled scheme, he expected the list to be available in February.

Prices of greens have also remained stable, save for ‘sayur bayam’ which had surged from RM3 per kg to RM5.

He attributed this to unfavourable weather which had affected supply.

Earlier, when interviewed, vendors here said they were happy with the MDTCC officers and would give them their full cooperation for the benefit of all.

“We are very thankful for their advice and will continue to work closely with them to create a win-win situation for all,” assured a vendor, who did not wish to be identified.