MIRI, Sept 12 — Small-time food operator Sofina Tan has been feeling the pinch from inflation since last year, but she refuses to give in.

Her breakfast items still go for RM2 to RM4, and dinner dishes from RM4.50 to RM6, as she truly understands the struggles of parents with school-going children, the workers in both the government and private sectors, as well as labourers.

In view of the recent price hike in imported white rice, she knows that it is affecting her cost of doing business.

"I have calculated it — about 10 to 30 per cent cost increase in all the ingredients that I am using for the dishes that I am selling.

"If I wanted to make good money, I would just increase the menu prices, but considering that my customers are mostly those looking for affordability, I have decided to not raise the prices — not just yet,” she told The Borneo Post here.

Tan said based on her gross survey of the market price for the rice that she would normally use, she calculated an increase of RM10 for a 10kg pack — a massive hike, she opined.

"To make it clearer, the common rice varieties available in Sarawak market are the imported ones.

"Sarawak’s local rice like Bario rice and Adan rice, are grown by the natives mostly for their own consumption, and not produced on a major scale.

"For me, I use rice of average quality that the customers can accept. Amidst the price hike, I want to try holding on (to current menu prices) until end of this year, as much as possible, because I do not want to put more burden on my customers.

"I feel it, and I understand how so much harder it is to earn a living these days,” she added.

Tan also hoped that the government would do something to help the people, not just by giving money but more towards continuing the relevant subsidies, or regulating the prices of essential items, which she believed would be more beneficial in the long run.

Meanwhile, Miri United Hawkers Association secretary Chiam Yun Chaw said they had yet to decide if they would increase the price of food items amidst the current situation and if they did, they still could not determine the range of the rise.

"Right now, everyone is struggling. We are observing the situation and will decide later on. I think we all know that once the price has increased, it’s hard to readjust it to go down.

"Still, we are looking at any possibility to maintain the prices, without affecting our business,” he said.

Nonetheless, Chiam described the price hike in imported white rice, as well as in other food items, as ‘very alarming’.

"If there’s a need to readjust the pricing, then there’s nothing that we could do.

"We need to survive too, and the profit margin in food business like ours is very small,” said Chiam, whose association serves as the umbrella for hawkers operating at Miri Open Air Market and the United Hawkers Food Centre. — Borneo Post Online