Fighting inflation any which way we can

ON Friday, Malaysia reported its highest food inflation rate in 11 years.

According to Statistics Department chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin, food inflation rose to 5.2%, the sharpest increase since November 2011.

And this is across the board: Mohd Uzir noted that 93% of items in the food group witnessed an increase in prices.

Of these, 29.4% items increased by less than 5%; prices for 37.7% items increased between 5% and 10%; while 32% of items increased by more than 10%.

He also pointed out that chicken prices, the most significant component in the meat subgroup, rose 13.4% year-on-year.

And analysts are warning that the food bill is going to keep going up as fuel costs increase, mainly due to the Russia-Ukraine war affecting global supply chains.

That’s sobering news because food takes up the bulk of most families’ budgets. You can do without luxuries in the face of the rising cost of everything, but you can’t do without food.

So while Malaysians are generally recalibrating their spending and are buying only essentials, some are also changing their eating habits.

With the new ceiling price for chicken set at RM9.40 a kilo – 50 sen higher than the previous price of RM8.90 – people are switching in droves to different sources of protein like fish and eggs and even vegetarian options like grains and pulses.

This is quite a change considering that Malaysia recorded the highest level of poultry consumption per capita in the world in 2019, according to poultryworld.net, at 63kg per person.

Another seemingly ingrained habit that’s changing: we’re eating at home more to stretch our ringgit.

Malaysians are, of course, well known for being foodies who like to eat out at all hours of the day (including at midnight thanks to 24-hour mamak shops) but this is fast becoming more of a rare treat rather than a daily occurrence.

We are also ordering less through food delivery services that make the price of a meal costlier.

And some households are buying groceries at wholesale stores and wet markets that they feel are cheaper alternatives to supermarkets.

We Malaysians are pretty skilful at finding bargains and making do.

It’s a skill we will have to rely on as we tighten our belt and make the necessary lifestyle changes to tackle the inflation that’s hitting the whole world.