Pakcik Amir Wahab, who has been operating a street-side stall for five years, lamented the difficulty of getting his supply of sugar to make his assortment of traditional cakes, cookies and banana fritters.

"I require about 12 to 13 kilogrammes of sugar every five days, but sometimes the shops permit me to buy only 2 kg at one time which is not enough," he sighed.

"And sometimes I can't even get that," added Amir at his stall in Kuala Lumpur's Bangsar Utama, which he runs with the help from his wife.

Without the quantities of sugar he needs, he makes fewer cakes to sell and his daily takings have dropped substantially.

"Operating the stall is the only way I make a living and it's getting increasingly difficult to do that," he said.

Amir doesn't mind if the price of sugar increases, but the increase must be reasonable.

"Some shops are selling sugar at RM2 per kg when the retail price is only between RM1.40 and RM1.45 per kg.

"Such a huge increase is not acceptable," he added. [See video clip]

Operating on the same street and just a few feet from Amir is Bakri Taufik (photo), who isn't so badly affected by the sugar shortage.

As he fries mostly banana fritters, ubi keladi (yam), ubi kayu (tapioca) and ubi keledek (sweet potato), his sugar requirements are not in the bucket loads - just 2kg a day and he has no difficulty in getting that quantity regularly.

"Except for the ubi kayu, all the other fried snacks use very little sugar so the shortage hasn't affected me at all," he said.

Bakri buys his sugar at RM1.50 per kg which he said has been the price he has paid for the last five years. [See video clip]

Bad for business

Puan Rohaya Rahim, however, is deeply concerned. Her business of making of breads and cakes which she supplies everyday to her distributors around the Klang Valley requires a whopping five 50kg bags of castor sugar everyday.

"But for Hari Raya, I make 550,000 cookies and this year, I have a higher target. But the sugar shortage is worrying because I have difficulty in getting icing and castor sugar," she complained.

In preparing for the Hari Raya demand for her cookies, Rohaya needs 50 25kg bags of icing sugar and 10 50kg bags of castor sugar.

"Suppliers are now selling castor and icing sugar in smaller quantities which cost me a lot more, but I can't increase the price of my cookies because the price has already been fixed," she said.

Rohaya wants to know what actions are being taken by the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs to ensure that sugar will be available for the festive season.

"My target date to start producing the cookies is August 15 to meet Hari Raya demand, but I'm still struggling to secure the sugar supplies that I need," she added.

For stall holders like Pakcik Amir, the fasting month is usually the time for them to look forward to brisk sales as traditional cakes are popular for the breaking of fast.

Unless the supply of sugar starts flowing regularly again, this year's Hari Raya in October will be a miserable one for them.


Part 1: Sugar shortage: End monopoly by 'kings'
Part 2: Time to hike sugar prices to curb shortages?
Part 3: Get tough with hoarders, smugglers