PETALING JAYA, Mylasia, May 6 (Asia News Network): It is literally a less fruitful year for Malaysians with a 60 per cent drop in local fruit production brought about by the recent dry spell.
Fruits have also become costlier with price rises of between 50 sen (US$0.15) and 60 sen a kilo for many varieties.
The situation is not likely to get any better as the year progresses.
With the meteorological department forecasting another dry spell later, fruit growers are bracing for another round of poor harvests.
Malaysian Fruit Farmers Association president Hong Jok Hon said the drop in supply of fruits, including limes, guava, mangoes, papayas, watermelons and starfruit was expected to last until July before the situation returned to normal.
However, he said the drought expected between June and October might cause the harvests to be poor during the next season.
Hong said the prices of these fruits had risen by about 15 per cent or an average of 50 cents to 60 cents per kilo, depending on the type of fruit.
Malaysia fruit prices go up
FE Team | Published: May 07, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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