THE price of musang king durian in Malaysia has fallen to a 10-year low at just about RM10 per kg, causing orchard owners to suffer losses this month, reported Sin Chew Daily.
Industry players are now labelling it a “durian tsunami” after prices fell by more than 60% in just one month.
According to orchard owner Lin Fu Yuan, orchard owners were already making paper-thin margins when musang king durians retailed at about RM20 per kilo in November.
“We did not expect prices to fall by more than 60% at the start of December. These are historically low prices and caused me to lose more money this month,” he said.
Zou Sheng Zhe, an orchard owner in Raub, said those worst affected were farmers who leased land to grow durians, and those who invested a huge sum to grow the fruit.
He said the sharp fall in durian prices was due to weak demand as a result of the school holidays and fewer orders from China.
> A man in Ipoh who allegedly dragged a puppy on a chain behind his motorcycle caused an uproar on social media, reported Oriental Daily.
The incident, believed to have taken place in Kampung Tawas last Friday, was caught on video and shared online.
The person taking the video was seen confronting a motorcyclist who picked up a dog with bleeding paws.
The person told the motorcyclist that the puppy was not running alongside the motorcycle but was being dragged along the road, resulting in injuries.
The motorcyclist only stopped after being confronted, claiming he was unaware that his actions had hurt the dog and pleading for leniency. Netizens condemned the motorcyclist for animal abuse.
According to the uploader of the video, he made a police report.
The puppy is now under the care of the Veterinary Services Department.
(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.)
