Ramadan bazaar traders lament low sales
MIRI: Traders at the Ramadan bazaars here are bemoaning that sales have dwindled each year and the moderate sale in the past one week sales.
A stall operator at the Ramadan bazaar in Miri Indoor Stadium, who wished to be named as Ratna Sulaiman, said the situation had deteriorated over the past few years as although many customers visited the stalls, they seemed to be choosy about what items they wanted to buy.
“This one week the sales of food and cakes were just moderate unlike the previous years when there was greater demand,” Ratna told The Borneo Post yesterday.
Since the GST was imposed, many items for making cakes and food were more expensive, resulting in lower production and lesser variety of food and cakes sold, she said.
Nur Diana, an operator of a Ramadan stall at a shopping mall in Permyjaya, said many customers just came to buy cakes and some ready-made food unlike in the previous years when they bought a lot of items.
“I am only selling cakes,” she added.
She attributed the low sales to a number of factors, among them was that people were uncertain of the prices of goods such as cakes on sale.
She said in the previous years, cakes were sold at RM1 for four pieces but were now sold at RM1 for three pieces due to the higher cost of ingredients.