Malaysia’s food prices could rise by 50% as fuel costs soar, traders warn

People have their breakfast at a kopitiam in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on March 17.

Photo: Reuters The energy crisis caused by the Iran war could push food prices up by as much as 50 per cent in Malaysia, trade associations have warned, as soaring fuel costs threaten to wipe out already narrow margins for roadside stalls and restaurants feeding the country’s outsize appetite for eating out.

Malaysia’s government coffers have already taken a hit due to fallout from the conflict, with local fuel subsidy costs estimated to spike by more than fourfold to about 3.2 billion ringgit (US$795 million) a month in a bid to keep inflation in check.

Traders, however, have said the costs of raw materials needed to prepare everything from the humble roti canai flatbread to the ubiquitous nasi lemak breakfast staple have already shot up, leaving them with little choice but to increase their prices. “Even before the fuel price increase, prices had already risen by around 20 to 30 per cent,” said Rosli Sulaiman, president of the Federation of Malaysian Hawkers and Traders Associations. “When costs are high and there are no profits in return, traders are forced to raise their selling prices … we do not rule out the possibility of prices rising [by] 50 per cent,” Rosli was quoted as saying on Sunday by local English daily New Straits Times.

A customer buys a chicken from a vendor at a wet market in Kuala Lumpur.

Malaysia’s traders say “a minimal adjustment in prices may be unavoidable” if cost pressures persist.

Photo: EPA-EFE Earlier last week, the Malaysian Muslim Restaurant Owners Association (Presma) – the umbrella body for the wildly popular 24-hour mamak restaurants run by the country’s Indian-Muslim community – said it had already been saddled with price increases of up to 30 per cent over the past year for raw ingredients from chicken and vegetables to plastic packaging and cooking gas.

The surge in fuel prices caused by the Iran war was expected to push the cost of doing business even higher, it said. “If these price pressures persist, a minimal adjustment in prices may be unavoidable,” Presma President Mosin Abdul Razak was quoted as saying by online news portal FreeMalaysiaToday.

Malaysians spent more than 870 ringgit a month in 2024 on dining out, according to the latest available government data, up 17 per cent from the previous year and reflecting what the government said was a growing preference for eating out rather than at home.

The amount accounted fo

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