‘Price hike won’t make a dent in purchasing habits’

PETALING JAYA: With sugar being a staple in the Malaysian diet, many are unfazed by the potential increase in its ceiling price.

Jehan Ahmad, 35, said even if there was a price increase, the impact might not be very significant for him as sugar and sweetened items make up a negli- gible part of his household spending.

“My staples are sugar, condensed milk and biscuits, but my family are not big consumers of sugar,” the manager from Kuala Lumpur said.

He added, “I think the increase will still be manageable.”

An ehailing driver who only wanted to be known as Ali, said the prices of local favourites such as teh tarik and Nescafe tarik might go up.

“But this is also an opportunity to cut down on sugar.

“Our local diet is heavy on sugar,” he added.

President of the Federation of Malaysian Consumers Association (Fomca) chief executive officer Saravanan Thambirajah said prices of more food items were expected to go up as many food items required sugar.

“We are in a dillema I would say. On one part sugar is bad for health, but in another, it also drives the price of certain items.”

“Malaysians are known to enjoy teh tarik and Boba tea. How are we going to reduce our dependence on sugar and how are we going to live healthily?” he asked.

However, Saravanan said now was not the right time to remove the subsidy for sugar as people were already grappling with the rising cost of items.

He said if subsidies were to be removed, it should only be done when the economy improves and people are comfortable with their purchasing power.

Even then, he said, any subsidy removal must be done in stages.