Be Ready To Fork Out More For Your Roti Canai And Mee Goreng From 1 March Onwards
A bag of the 25kg wheat flour can cost up to RM42 now.
By Nandini Balakrishnan — 01 Mar 2016, 02:05 PM
The government has declared that they will stop providing subsidy for the 25kg-bag wheat flour starting today, 1 March
Millers who attended a meeting with the Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry last week said they were informed about the subsidy removal then.
The subsidy of RM8.25 for the 25kg-bag of wheat flour are to be removed from today, moving the price up to RM42 per bag.
Wholesalers are also believed to have received a circular on the revised prices for the 25kg-bag of flour for Peninsula Malaysia including Blue Key brand, which is now priced at RM42 without the subsidy.
“The 25kg-bag of flour, which is purchased by retailers such as coffee shops and mamak restaurants, will increase from RM33.75 to RM42,”said a flour miller, Ng.
However, the Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry has informed that they will maintain the subsidised RM1.35 price for the 1kg premium wheat flour that is commonly purchased by local households
Ng said they used to get RM600 to RM800 in subsidies per metric tonne of flour produced each month or 60 sen to 80 sen per kilo depending on the price of wheat in the market.
These subsidies, he said, had distorted the market price of flour as the cost of milling wheat into flour could cost more than RM33.75 per kilo. The price for the production of flour varies, based on wheat price which is now RM968 (US$230) per tonne.
“We welcome the Government’s decision,” he said.
So, how exactly would this sudden subsidy cut affect the prices of breakfast food in Malaysia?
When speaking to English daily, The Star, a restaurant owner named Selva, said that the trade ministry's subsidy cut could affect the prices of roti canai served in local restaurants.
Since the subsidy cut would increase the price of the 25kg of wheat flour to RM42 per bag, Siva explained that he would have start charging RM1.20 per piece of roti canai instead of RM1 that he's charging now.
"All this while, we have maintained our RM1 price because we don’t want to burden our customers. But with this new price revision, we need to increase it," added Siva.
Agreeing with Siva, Maliia Bakery (M) Sdn Bhd chief executive officer M. Kumaresan, lamented that the subsidy cut would see a 30% increase in cost which would certainly impact his business
"We spend between RM100,000 and RM150,000 on various types of flour including wheat flour.
"We will use up our present stock and when that finishes, we will have to sell our products at a higher price," added Kumaresan.
According to The Star and local restaurant-owners, this subsidy cut may increase the price of food items that heavily rely on wheat flour, such as local kuihs, roti canai and noodle dishes
