By Ivy Maria Christopher
KUCHING: Local fruit sellers are struggling as demand for their produce has declined due to restrictions on the movements of people during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The sales of imported fruits have also taken a downturn, but oddly the sellers are still doing okay, and some of them expect their fruits to be sold out quickly.
To get some insight into this matter, some traders at Medan Niaga Satok were asked about their businesses during the pandemic and they made a few interesting comments.
Jee Kien Liong, who has his own orchard and has been selling fruits for about 30 years, admitted that his business has been hit hard by the pandemic.
Fortunately, it has not been bad all the way as his situation has improved a little bit compared to last year.
“It was tough for us in the beginning,” he said.
“Even now we are earning half what we used to get before.
“Luckily we received financial assistance (the ‘Bantuan Khas Sarawakku Sayang — BKSS) from the state government.”
Another trader, Tan Chui Ngo, has no farm like Jee, so she sells fruits from Korea, South Africa, Australia and Thailand.
She remembered that her sales last year were so low that she had to close her stall for quite a long time.
Thankfully for her, the government gave subsidy to tide her family over for a bit.
“Now, we make just enough to cover our cost. And we have to deal with fewer shipments, which means that the import of fruits has decreased,” she said.
An additional burden according to her is there is a mark-up in prices due to the container charges.
“And when it rains while we are trading, we still need to clear off our stock. Luckily most times, we managed to sell them off, but there were days when we incurred losses.
A fellow seller of imported fruits, Alvin Tan, claimed to have observed a slight decrease in sales.
“I’m talking about overall sales of imported fruits,” he said.
“It’s rather odd because imported fruits are significantly cheaper now due to the low profit margin.”
Strangely, according to him, the sellers have managed to afloat, which means all in all, they still earn some income to stay afloat.
“I think it’s because the lower prices have attracted just enough number customers,” he said.
