Compiled by FAZLEENA AZIZ, ALLISON LAI and R. ARAVINTHAN
THE price of mooncakes for the Mid-Autumn Festival will increase by between RM1 and RM1.50 each, reported China Press.
Quoting a pastry shop owner, it said prices of ingredients such as flour, sugar and cooking oil have all gone up.
The situation is further compounded by the higher transportation costs and weakened ringgit.
“The mixed nuts imported from the United States that we use as fillings for the wu ren (mixed nuts)mooncake are so expensive now.
“So, the price of wu ren mooncake will be RM1.50 more expensive than previously,” said the business owner.
However, he said the most expensive ingredients would be the lotus seeds imported from China and Vietnam, where the prices had increased “tremendously”.
He also expressed concern about hiring sufficient workers, as mooncake production is a festive and short-term job.
“Without offering a high pay, it’s hard to attract workers,” he said.
Despite anticipating a 20% to 30% increase in production cost, he said businesses would try to absorb some of the cost and keep mooncake prices reasonable.
“It’s Mid-Autumn (Festival). It should be celebrated happily. Businesses will find a balance and not increase the prices exorbitantly,” he added.
> Guang Ming Daily highlighted images of a female Malayan tiger with her four cubs that were captured on camera traps this year.
Perak State Parks Corporation director Shah Redza Hussein said the presence of the cubs showed that with suitable habitat and availability of prey as food for survival, Malayan tigers could breed and thrive in the wild.
With the tiger population currently numbering fewer than 150 in Peninsular Malaysia, WWF-Malaysia executive director and chief executive officer Sophia Lim said the latest development renewed hope that the critically endangered species could be saved from the brink of extinction.
The above articles are 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.
