Hike in food prices expected due to floods and CNY

Malaysians have started hoarding fresh seafood for the impending Chinese New Year festivity to avoid short supply and higher prices later.

Compiled by FATIMAH ZAINAL, NG SI HOOI and R. ARAVINTHAN

TRADERS are predicting a rise in the prices of fish, poultry and vegetables next week due to the floods and preparations for the Chinese New Year, reported Harian Metro.

Pasar Besar Meru Klang trader Erna Malias, 43, said the prices of fish would increase by between RM2 and RM5.

“During the Chinese New Year, people buy fish such as pomfrets and mackerel for the reunion dinner. This will cause wholesalers to hike up prices,” she told the daily.

Trader Zainurin Mohamad, 49, said the price of wet goods had already started to increase during the floods but was under control.

“We increased prices by between RM1 to RM2 because wholesalers were charging us extra due to the unpredictable weather,” he said, warning that prices would increase even more starting next week.

Shopper Laila Latif, 35, claimed that the price of chicken had risen by 50 sen per kg from last week.

> Berita Harian reported that a two-year-old girl in Rantau Panjang, Kelantan, died due to shortness of breath after being trapped in her flooded home for eight hours.

The family of Ainun Najwa Mohd Yusof had earlier decided not to evacuate their house as the flood water was only about 1m high.

However, at around 10am on Wednesday, Ainun, who never had breathing problems before, started developing difficulties.

Her grandmother, Bedah Mamat, 58, said the family tried to contact the authorities for help but failed to reach them.

The main roads leading to the village where she was staying with her family of six had been completely inundated and they could not send Ainun to the hospital.

Although authorities eventually managed to reach their home at 6pm and brought her for treatment at Hospital Perempuan Raja Zainab II, she later died.

Found in translation is compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.