Vegetables to cost more due to damage to crops by floods

Vegetables to cost more due to damage to crops by floods

JOHOR BARU - Vegetable prices are increasing due to damage to crops by the floods. With many roads also cut off by the floods, produce has become scarce.

The Government is trying to address the shortage by importing more vegetables.

Checks by The Star here showed prices of vegetables increasing by between 20 per cent and 50 per cent with many vegetable traders saying they were struggling to obtain supplies.

Vegetable trader Idah Mokhtar said, "Even if supplies are available, transportation to bring them over is another major problem".

"The prices of various vegetables, especially those imported from Cameron Highlands, have increased by at least 20 per cent," she said at the Larkin market here yesterday.

Idah said tomatoes had risen from RM3 to RM4.50 (S$1.10 to $1.70) per kg while cucumber and French beans had shot up from RM0.80 to RM3 per kg and RM6 to RM9 per kg respectively.

At the Tebrau market here, trader Liew Wen said prices for vegetables sourced from Batu Pahat and Cameron Highlands had increased by some 50 per cent.

He said prior to the flood, Cameron Highlands round cabbage sold at RM1.50 per kg but it was not RM3.

Fresh red chillies, meanwhile, had rocketed from between RM8 and RM10 per kg to between RM14 and RM15.

Faridulatrash said Fama would offer discounts of between 40 per cent and 50 per cent on nine commonly consumed vegetables to customers at farmers' markets in the state until the end of the month.

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