Slow sales, rising costs: Malaysia Ramadan bazaar traders pivot food offerings and hike prices

KUALA LUMPUR: It is about one-and-a-half hours before the break of fast, and the Ramadan bazaar located next to the Shah Alam stadium in Selangor is a hive of activity.

Traders here are shouting at the top of their lungs to attract customers, many of whom have come at the end of the work day to buy food and drinks for their iftar. 

Many traders told CNA that business has been particularly slow this year, especially during the weekdays. This is why they have resorted to calling out to prospective customers, the traders said, in order to attract them to their stalls. 

Amid sluggish sales and rising costs, some have pivoted their offerings while others had to increase prices.

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Ramadan bazaars are a common sight all over the country during the fasting month, offering a wide variety of food and drinks.

For many traders, setting up shop at these bazaars is a means of earning extra income before the festive season.

Ms Kuning Saidatul Izween, who operates the Mummy Ween stall at the bazaar next to the Shah Alam stadium, said that business has been relatively slow this year, and she had to pivot her business strategy in order to attract customers.

For the first eight days of Ramadan, Ms Kuning told CNA that she and her husband sold “nasi hujan panas”, which is also known as rainbow rice. 

A pack of rice with meat and side dishes was sold for RM15 (US$3.40), she said, but demand was low. 

“There is a lot of competition and many of the stalls selling rice were not doing well,” the 35-year-old said.

She also believed that people were spending less because the start of Ramadan came just several days after the reopening of schools, with parents having to spend on their children’s schooling needs first.  

The full-time food trader then changed business strategy and started to sell food that was cooked on the spot, such as fried rice and fried noodles. Prices for these items started at RM7. 

Ms Kuning told CNA that she had kept the prices of these dishes the same as the past two years, but has had to decrease the quantity of ingredients used.

This, she said, is due to the rising prices of raw ingredients.  

“If last time there were three prawns on a plate of noodles, now I use two prawns. The prices of ingredients have increased but I want to maintain my selling price because of my customers,” said the mother of five. 

Another trader at the bazaar who has had to change business strategy in order to attract customers was Mr Badri Zulkarnain. 

Mr Badri, who is now selling traditional Malay kueh, started off with selling nasi lemak (coconut rice) during the first two days of Ramadan.

Business was bad, he told CNA, causing him to lose about RM600 for each of those days. The unsold food was donated to the local surau (small prayer hall), he said.

Mr Badri and his friend then decided to sell traditional Malay kueh such as kueh lapis (a type of layered cake) and ondeh ondeh (a type of green-coloured glutinous rice balls) to stem their losses. One pack of kueh is sold for RM4 while a bundle of three packs goes for RM10. 

“Now I am able to make some profit, but it hasn’t been easy because of the competition here,” Mr Badri said. 

The 30-year-old added that business on weekdays wasn’t as good as the weekends, pointing to two empty stalls across his that are now only operational on Saturdays and Sundays.

He said that during weekends, the bazaar is packed to the brim, with customers not having much place to walk.

“During weekends, business is much better and I require more tables to display my cakes,” Mr Badri said.

Mr Hafiz Nazri, 25, who operates a stall selling roast chicken at the Shah Alam bazaar told CNA that he had to increase his prices this year.

 A whole chicken costs RM28 while half a chicken costs RM15. Last year, it cost RM25 and RM13 respectively, he said. 

“There is no choice but to hike up our prices a little bit as everything has increased in price. The customers understand and sales are alright,” he said.

He added that the cost to rent his stall space for the whole month also went up - from RM700 last year to RM950 at present.

Traders at another bazaar in Petaling Jaya’s Section 17 also told CNA that business this year isn’t as good as before. 

Mdm Jahirah Hamid, who has set up stall at the bazaar over the past decade, told CNA that business has gone down by 20 per cent this year as compared to previous years. 

Due to a lack of demand, Mdm Jahirah Hamid said that the number of chickens she uses to make her dishes daily has decreased.

If before she could use up to 35 whole chickens per day, this time around that number has fallen to 20. 

“Sometimes there are many people, but they just look and walk past. It hasn’t been good,” she said.

Mdm Jahirah sells turmeric chicken rice for RM8 per pack while a packet of chicken briyani costs RM12. She told CNA that she has had to increase the prices of her dishes by 50 cents in order to cover her overhead costs. 

“I have no choice. If I don’t do so, I won’t get any profits,” Mdm Jahirah said, adding that she could not understand why there was less demand this time around.

She added that while previously she offered a bigger variety of rice dishes, this has been reduced in order to prevent food wastage.

Mr Zulkifli Noordin, 49, who has been selling murtabak for 12 years at the Petaling Jaya bazaar during Ramadan also said that business has slowed down considerably this year. He noted that there were less stalls at the bazaar now as compared to before. 

One chicken murtabak at Mr Zulkifli’s stall sells for RM5, the same price as last year. This is despite the rising prices of ingredients, he added.

“My profits are very much less this year. Maybe people are being more careful with the rising cost of living,” he said, adding that he trades at the bazaar for an extra source of income before Hari Raya Puasa.

One result of slower sales at the bazaars is food wastage. Local media has reported that Ramadan bazaar traders in the Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya areas in Malaysia are wasting over 47,000 kilograms of food daily - an amount that could feed close to 40,000 people. 

According to the New Straits Times (NST), Federal Territories Solid Waste and Public Cleansing Management Corporation (SWCorp) director Ummi Kalthum Shuib attributed the food wastage to the unplanned food preparation by the Ramadan bazaar traders. 

HIGHER PRICES DUE TO COST OF RAW INGREDIENTS 

President of the Association of Malaysian traders Rosli Sulaiman told CNA that Ramadan bazaar traders are not able to bring down the prices of their goods to cope with slower sales, as the prices of raw materials and ingredients have increased.  

“As the prices of raw materials and ingredients have gone up, (these traders) are unable to bring down the prices of items they sell. (Otherwise) they won’t be profitable,” said Mr Rosli.

For instance, he said the price of stingray has increased from RM18 per kilogram to RM24 per kilogram, while the price of kembong fish has increased to RM15 per kilogram.

The traders would then have to pass on the increased prices of the raw ingredients to customers. 

This in turn, has led to customers being put off by the higher prices and spending less money overall at the bazaars, Mr Rosli said.

“Once customers feel the prices are high, there will be lower demand and (these) traders will experience losses,” he said.  

Mr Rosli added: “(And) if you reduce the portion, then people don’t want to buy anymore. I believe that people are controlling themselves because they don’t have cash in hand. The buying power is less.” 

Despite the seemingly higher prices of goods at the Ramadan bazaars, customers whom CNA spoke to said they are still buying the products on offer, but in moderation. 

Mr Razman Muhammad, 37, who was buying food at the bazaar in Petaling Jaya said that he compares the prices of the goods first before making any purchases.

He observed that prices were higher than before, and said that he had cut down the number of visits to these bazaars compared to previous years.     

“At the end of the day, as customers we have the power to make a purchase or otherwise. If it is too expensive, there are many other choices including cooking at home,” he told CNA, adding that there were stalls still selling affordable food.    
He would make sure to only purchase enough for him and his family to prevent wastage of food.

“This is the month of Ramadan and it should be about moderation,” he said.

Read this story in Bahasa Melayu here.