Ever since the price of major essentials such as cooking oil, multi-purpose wheat flour, eggs, chicken, butter, bakery products and other perishable products have increased, Malaysians are definitely feeling the pinch and for some buying groceries takes up at least half of their income.
It came to our surprise when Gardenia Bakeries (KL) Sdn Bhd announced the sudden rise of their bread and bakery products again. It has stated that Gardenia Original Classic 400g will cost RM3 (up 20 sen), Original Classic Jumbo 600g RM4.30 (up 30 sen), and Breakthru Wholewheat 400g RM4 (up 40 sen).
Pheww…that’s quite a lot!
Check out the new price listing for Gardenia bread below:
Harga baru roti Gardenia mulai 1 September 2022.
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On the other hand, the price of their cream rolls — vanilla, butter sugar, and salted caramel — is going up by 10 sen to RM1.10 each.
Taking into their official Facebook page, Gardenia Bakeries (KL) Sdn Bhd has stated that the latest price increase is due to the impact of inflation on raw materials, such as flour and vegetable fat. On the other hand, the company has also mentioned that the rising cost of logistics over the years has been the biggest factor for them to raise the price.
What makes things worse?
Without a doubt, the B40 (bottom 40%) group / low-income households are expected to feel the pinch due to the continuous price inflation of essential food items. We might not know those people who would skimp on proper meals due to the rate of inflation.
It is unavoidable that prices are increasing rapidly but unfortunately, our salaries remain stagnant.
A few months ago, the government implemented a maximum price scheme for items from April 26 to May 10. But, surprisingly chicken prices started to soar during that period, with retailers claiming that they could not sell standard chicken at the price of RM8.90 per kg because their suppliers were selling it to them at RM8.70 per kg.
If we could feel the pinch, what about the B40 group / low-income households?
According to the Department of Statistics Malaysia’s April consumer price index (CPI) report, food inflation was 4.1 per cent higher compared to the same month last year, with 89.1 percent of food items in the Food & Beverages group recorded increases.
It said that this group of items – the largest component of household spending – showed the highest increase since January 2018.
Taking things into consideration, the government will spend RM77.3 billion on subsidies this year — the most it has ever spent on subsidies — to contain rising prices. This includes the RM11.7 billion for Bantuan Keluarga Malaysia direct cash assistance to those who met programme eligibility requirements, The Edge Market reported.
But, for how long?
At this moment, the government is urged to look into enhancing supplies and assisting producers to secure the sustainability of supply and price management and prevent the price of commodities, especially necessary food items, from rising further and eroding peoples’ purchasing power.
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