Food manufacturers get boost from festive season

Demand increases during Ramadan amidst pandemic

“Our products for end-consumers picked up during the Ramadan period. We got a boost because some competitors were closed.” Ambiga Paramasalam

PETALING JAYA: Amidst weaker demand, local food manufacturers are getting a slight boost from the upcoming festive season.

However, this uptick may only buoy them for the short term if the market does not pick up, or if they are not able to diversify their sales avenues further.

“Our products for end-consumers picked up during the Ramadan period. We got a bit of a boost because some of our competitors weren’t able to operate during this period. So, demand has doubled,” said Aps-manja Sdn Bhd director Ambiga Paramasalam.

The growth in its consumer segment will help offset the losses in Aps-manja’s business-to-business (B2B) portion, which has come down significantly.

Meanwhile, spices and snack food maker GT Spice Manufacturers Sdn Bhd director Calvin Koh noted that sales have dropped about 20% compared to the same period last year.

“This year, we were quite fortunate to be able to supply festive bottles of muruku to 7-Eleven stores for this period.

“That helped us out. Otherwise, we would have a bigger dip in sales. That was enough to tide us through for a month,” he said.

But Koh expects another lull post-raya till

August. And with most exhibitions pushed to year-end at the earliest, the company will have to look at other channels to push sales.

“We are looking at e-commerce platforms to try to penetrate previously untapped markets. We have also started to look through previous exhibitions’ directories for new leads,” he said.

Aps-manja is also looking to further grow its online business, but Ambiga said it was important to also have the right team to support its digital expansion.

“We were previously very into the B2B business. Online is quite new to us. We need to ensure we have the right product and pricing for the market.

“A lot of people are also going online, so it is becoming competitive.

“We have to adapt very quickly. The trends change every day. And we have to make sure that we come up with promotions and packages that are different from those of our customers so that we don’t compete with them,” said Ambiga.

She added that the current circumstances have forced the company to be more cost-centric and the management team is a lot more hands-on to ensure that the essential parts of the business are taken care of.

“It makes us put our best practices forward. Everyone is zooming in on what’s important. This is a time to test how we optimise things,” she said.