Sunday, November 02, 2008
Rice cheaper with lower fuel price
Sunday November 2, 2008
Rice cheaper with lower fuel price
KUALA LUMPUR: Rice in the country is now cheaper by an average of 20 sen per kilo as prices of consumer goods continue to slide following the cut in fuel prices.
The grade of rice with 5% broken grains (Super Special Tempatan 5%) which was priced at RM2.80 is now RM2.60 per kilo, while the price of Super Special Tempatan 10% has been cut from RM2.70 to RM2.50 per kilo.
Prices of imported rice from Thailand have also been slashed by 50 sen from RM3.50 to RM3.00 per kilo.
However, Super Tempatan 15% will be maintained at RM1.80 per kilo as it was subsidised by the Government, said Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Datuk Mustapa Mohamed.
Buying groceries: Consumers shopping at the Tesco hypermarket in Mutiara Damansara in Petaling Jaya Saturday. Rice prices in the country have dropped since the recent cut in fuel prices. “The Government used a total of RM800mil to subsidise rice, whereby RM400mil was allocated for rice produced from the peninsula while another RM400mil was allotted for rice from east Malaysia,” he told reporters after launching the ministry’s weekend agricultural activities at the Malaysian Agro-Exposition Park in Serdang yesterday.
Mustapa said the prices of other items like chicken and chilli remained stable while prices of vegetables and fruits depended on its day-to-day supply.
“Long beans are a bit more expensive now because of limited supply as weather changes affected the yield,” he said.
Mustapa also announced at the event that RM250mil was being invested in the park to improve its facilities and promote agricultural activities to students in the area and the general public.
He said activities that will be held at the park every Saturday were in line with the Bumi Hijau campaign aimed at encouraging people to grow their own vegetables.
A weekly pasar tani will also be held on Saturday at the park from next month, he added.
Federation of Malaysian Consumers Association secretary-general Muhammad Sha’ani Abdullah questioned why the price of local rice was only reduced by 20 sen per kilo, as the price of rice in the international market had gone down by almost 50% lately.
He said the small reduction would not lead to food eateries slashing down their food prices as it was negligible.
“So why only 20 sen? How much savings can you make per serving? If you can serve 10 people per kilo, that is a saving of two sen.
“If you round up or down the two sen, that’s zero,” he said.
