KUALA LUMPUR, April 6 — Lemang sellers miss the Covid-19 lockdowns.

At this year’s Ramadan bazaar, usually a booming period for Malay businesses, sales were good but nowhere close to what they had been when the country drifted in and out of the Movement Control Order (MCO).

For sellers, the movement curbs had been a blessing in disguise. In the last two years, millions of Malay-Muslims residing in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor who would have otherwise made the customary trip back to their hometowns were forced to spend Aidilfitri within the state limits.

Local food sellers suddenly had more customers than what they were accustomed to before the pandemic.

If sales from previous Ramadan bazaars had been restricted to the small fringe buyers who celebrate in the capital city, the two years of lockdowns helped local food sellers capture sales that would have gone to traders outside Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, as they cashed in on Muslims eager to celebrate Hari Raya and forget the dreary pandemic.

"The first two years of MCO were the best time for my business. From my observation, it was because people cannot travel inter-state to visit their relatives during Hari Raya. Hence, the people in Gombak buy the lemang from me,” said Mohd Arifin Zakaria, 64, owner of the popular Lemang Daun Lerek Gombak, in Greenwood, Gombak, Selangor.

"My stall is strategically located in Greenwood and it’s nice seeing people even from Selayang come here to the traditional Hari Raya food from my shop. But not only that, we also received a lot of orders from food delivery apps such as foodpanda and Grab,” he added.

Lemang, a traditional dish of glutinous rice and coconut milk steamed in bamboo, is customarily consumed to mark the end a month of ritual fasting for Muslims in Malaysia and to usher in their holy month of Aidilfitri.

Mohd Arifin said he started his lemang business in 1992. While the process of cooking lemang has changed little in the technological sense since, sellers have been quick to ride on the explosion of the e-delivery service during the Covid-19 lockdown period.

"That definitely made me increase my supply in order to fulfil the demands,” Mohd Ariffin said.

Without disclosing the cash amount of his sales, Mohd Ariffin said he sold 200 sticks within 30 minutes in 2021.

The MCO boom was also an opportunity to test the market’s appetite for more products. Mohd Ariffin said business was so good that it prompted him to expand the menu in an experiment meant to gauge customers’ purchasing power.

"As I am originally from Negeri Sembilan. We tried selling our local dishes such as ikan keli salai (grilled catfish), daging salai (grilled beef), udang peria (prawns and bitter gourd) and jering (dogfruit). It was sold out,” he said.

"We even tried selling Roti John (a local dish consisting of the sliced halves of a French loaf fried with a topping of minced mutton, sliced onions and egg) and people are still buying it. I guess with the help of social media,” the lemang trader added.

"We grew bigger. Thanks to my family, we have our own Instagram and Facebook.”

Lemang Daun Lerek Greenwood received international attention after that, when Trevor James, a Canadian food YouTuber, visited the stall.

Smaller competitors also profited from the lockdown boom. People behind the smaller Lemang Daun Lerek Khairul stall in Sungai Tua Taman Jasa, Batu Caves Gombak, said at peak sales time he had earned up to RM10,000, all thanks to the movement curbs that were still in place.

"Before Covid started, I earned about RM4,500 by selling lemang. When MCO was in place, lots of people were buying from me,” said Khairul Anwar Mohd Yusop, 28, the stall owner who started his business five years ago.

"There were a lot of new faces who became my customers. I went along with the demand and started selling 500 sticks per day and it was sold out by the time I closed the stall. I was shocked to know the total amount of sales after Hari Raya was over,” he added.

Now that the travel restriction has been lifted, his revenue dropped by half.

"I earned about RM5,000 last year and I expected the same amount for this year. You can’t stop people from going back to their hometown. So, I hope I’ll attract the regular customers to help my business,” he said.

The movement of customers was not the only factor dragging down sales. Lemang sellers trade at this year’s Ramadan bazaar amid expectations that consumers have spending appetite as they try to cope with record high inflation.

Stall owners were also not spared by the supply chain bottleneck that has squeezed prices to levels comparable to the Asian Financial crisis, forced to raise the prices of their lemang despite the prospect of turning customers away.

Inflation, while showing signs of moderating, is expected to remain elevated for the rest of the year, according to official inflation forecasts.

"I have never raised the prices of my lemang for 15 years, I think,” said Batriah, 42, manager of Gerai Lemang Asli Pak Ali on Jalan Ulu Klang, Selangor, now operating in its 39th year.

"But the cost of ingredients has gone up. The price of bamboo, beef for rendang. Coconut milk. Everything. Now we’ve had to raise the price of the lemang for RM2 each,” she added.

Mohd Arifin said he expected his sales to decrease just a bit with people going back to their hometown for Hari Raya and an increase in prices.

"We had to increase the price by RM2 for each lemang size. The cost of purchasing bamboo sticks increased up to 50 sen and prices of raw ingredients such as chicken and meat to make our rendang dish also increased.

"However, I still see that a lot of people will queue up on the first day of Hari Raya to purchase from me as we are a household name now,” he said.

The country’s estimated 20 million over Muslims will celebrate Aidilfitri in late April.