YOURSAY | ‘Malaysians often complain online but continue to patronise price-gouging businesses.’

COMMENT | Food prices: The invisible line on profiteering

Mazhilamani: To truly understand the atrocities of hellish profiteering, one must go down to the ground, the farming and rearing or breeding community, who toil in inclement weather and are exploited by merciless intermediaries to serve food for Malaysians.

Frankly, everyone from the intermediaries, the retailers, and food outlets makes a huge profit, leaving the farming and breeding community feeling enslaved.  

Take a plate of fried noodles for example. The ingredients that go into it are 100g of noodles, a quarter of a big onion, a clove of garlic, two stalks or leaves of sawi (mustard greens), a whole egg, sambal and ketchup.

Together, the cost of the ingredients will amount to less than RM2. A plate of noodles is nothing less than RM6 to RM8 at a restaurant or a profit of 200 to 300 percent.  

The same applies to all the consumable products. I have often wondered what the B40 feed their infants, I was shocked to learn they feed them “condensed milk”.  

Some products that pass off as ‘condensed milk’ are made from palm oil. Due to this, how does one avoid developing diabetes at a young age? 

How can they avoid developing diabetes from a young age? For infant milk powder is beyond the reach of this group. A 1.8kg milk powder is around RM40.

A 500g tin of milk powder for babies costs nothing less than RM60. Some brands cost so much more.

Even more surprising, many private clinics also recommend and sell infant formula.  

Veteran journalist R Nadeswaran highlighted this issue at the right time, with the expected salary jump for the public and private sectors.

Because of this, prices of food items have already been raised a few months earlier. We can expect another round of price increases.

So where lies the fault?

Frankly speaking, we have very weak monitoring bodies who call themselves authorities.

Existential Turd: The government should be focusing on stopping monopolies, duopolies, oligarchies, and collusion etc.

As long as competition is healthy, prices are kept as low as possible. Intermediaries or unscrupulous profiteering businesses are always blamed for high prices, but consumers can vote with their feet by patronising another business.

That is if competition is allowed. Unfortunately, the government is most responsible for some of the most egregious monopolistic behaviour.

Nadeswaran has mentioned Approved Permits (AP) in the article. Is toll concession another poor decision by the government?

KK Voter: Unfortunately, the prices of goods, not just food, are what consumers are willing to pay without boycotting.

Malaysians often complain online but continue to patronise price-gouging businesses.  

A boycott is an effective mechanism for price control (less demand cuts into profits, forcing business owners to reevaluate), provided it is not used for political purposes.

Unfortunately, it is often associated with politics and stupidity rather than consumer rights.

BrownGopher9516: I agree with Nadeswaran, let the buyer beware. The government should not pass too many laws to control and regulate everything.

The many laws reflect the weakness of the nation and the behavioural pattern of the citizenry.  Laws do not correct and shape good behaviour and create good men.

The leaders must lead properly and behave humanely, with full humility in their character. We the citizenry will then follow. Society will then correct itself.

RedSalmon2459: The Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act 2011 applies only when a business increases the price of goods or services.

Regardless of how high the price of roti canai is at a hotel, as long as the price remains unchanged, the act is not triggered.

However, if the price is raised, the business must be ready to justify the percentage of the increase as reasonable.

Drngsc: Consumers must be educated and only patronise stalls or restaurants which serve food and services for fair value. Value for your money, I mean.

We must avoid (boycott) those stalls and restaurants that we all know are sharks and barracudas out there to rip us off (unless you wish to be ripped off or be seen to be ripped off).  

It is all about business.

VioletEagle6715: It’s a willing buyer and willing seller market. There is no need to impose more liability on the trader.

Jimi: As long as the price of the product is clearly displayed, the customer can make up their own mind if they want to purchase it or not. 

Malaysia Patriot: It is time the government do more enforcement and monitor profiteering by restaurants to keep our cost of living affordable.

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