Sugarcane juice vendor savours sweet profits this Ramadan

The holy month of Ramadhan has brought blessings for many small vendors who are enjoying higher sales.

One of them is Awang Riffin, a vendor who sells fresh blended sugarcane juice. The higher income he's bringing in is a big help to his family's finances.

He maintains a stall at Tamuneka Mulaut and for the past few weeks, he's been selling nearly 200 bottles each day. Each bottle retails for $2.50, bringing him about $400 in daily gross sales.

He said that the demand for his product has soared since the start of Ramadhan that he has to close his stall by mid-afternoon as all his products get sold out by then.

Awang Riffin has been in this business for the past seven years now and he never misses the chance to join the annual Gerai Ramadhan.

"I will partake at this Ramadhan stall every year as not to miss this great occasion," he said.

To meet growing demand, Awang Riffin buys 400 kilos of fresh raw sugarcane each day from local suppliers.

During this high demand period, the prices of the raw sugarcanes are sold at a higher fifty cents per kilo. But he doesn't mind paying more as it's easy to break even during this season.

Awang Riffin can produce more than 200 bottles of juice from these sugar canes.

"As long as the machines or equipment that we use is correct and (use) the proper technique, we can produce this amount without compromising its (product's) quality,'' he said.

He added that at this moment, it is quite hard to get sufficient supply of raw sugarcanes. This is due to its high demand from many customers.

Other vendors are taking this opportunity to sell this iconic drink at their stalls. But such competition doesn't faze Awang Riffin.

"The (daily) sales of this sugarcane juice are still encouraging,'' he said.