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Wednesday December 19, 2007

Prices of turkey soar to a record high

Story by GEETHA KRISHNAN and ESTHER CHANDRAN

THE turkey may be missing at many Christmas dinners this year. The price of the bird has soared and many may find it too expensive or extravagant even for a Christmas feast.

Checks by StarMetro at numerous delicatessens, supermarkets and hypermarkets in the Klang Valley have revealed that turkey prices have tripled from last year.

A hole in the pocket: Solisege's roast turkey from Solid Side Food Industries Sdn Bhd for take-away orders has gone up in price as well.
From between RM9 to 15 per kg last year, the prices have shot up to as much as RM37 per kg.

Writer B.S. Wong, who paid RM200 for a 3kg roasted turkey that came with stuffing and gravy last year, is shopping for a smaller bird this time around although the whole tribe is coming to dinner.

“We'll just have to make do with smaller portions each. Some of my relatives have even taken the drastic step of not including turkey in their Christmas menu this year,” he said.

Wong recalled that his brother-in-law bought a 4kg frozen turkey last year for just RM60 that worked out to RM15 per kg.

According to Karl's Beisl manager Ming Rathswoh, his Austrian restaurant in Kuala Lumpur had little choice but to sell its roast turkeys dearer this year because suppliers have increased their prices drastically.

“I approached a few regular suppliers who told me they were also selling limited birds. They claimed that the prices were set by the importer,” she said.

“Last year, wholesalers were selling their birds at RM12 per kg and the most expensive price quoted was RM17 per kg,” Rathswohl said

“Prices have just tripled this year and I am wondering whether people are still going to have turkey for Christmas this year,” she said.

The high turkey prices has gotten Chef Hoxha of Restoran Porto Romano stumped as he will be selling turkey with all its trimmings below cost this year.

“The restaurant will not be making money selling turkey this Christmas as the price of turkey has increased tremendously,” he said.

Hoxha said that last year, he bought his stock of non-halal turkey at RM12 per kg but this year, non-halal turkey is priced at RM22 per kg.

“There are halal and non-halal frozen turkey in the market but the halal turkey is much more expensive. I cannot afford to buy the halal turkey as the suppliers are pricing them at RM30 per kg onwards,” he said.

“Our customers who must have turkey are those celebrating Christmas and it doesn't matter to them if the turkey is halal or not. They certainly do not want to fork out so much for turkey, especially when it was so much cheaper last year,” Hoxha said.

”Some of them have decided not to have turkey this year and have made reservations to have lamb instead,” he said.

Last year, Hoxha sold a 5kg roasted turkey for RM140 but this year, his roasted turkey cost RM225.

“This year, many restaurants will not be able to make money selling roasted turkey because frozen turkey is very expensive,” he said.

Every year, Chef Maria Tan of Maria's Kitchen serves halal turkey for Christmas so that her clientele regardless of race and religion can enjoy her Christmas set menu, which has turkey as the main attraction.

Last year, her Christmas set menu was priced at RM54 but this year, it is almost double in price at RM98.

The Christmas set menu, she said, was expensive this year because of the high cost of halal turkey.

“Last year, I bought the halal turkey from the suppliers at RM9.50 per kg but this year, I'm forking out RM28 per kg,” Tan said.

“I don't understand the sudden jump in turkey prices. It has almost tripled since last Christmas!” exclaimed Tan, who is unsure if she could make a profit from the set meal this Christmas.

Ho Kim Loon of Mr Ho's Fine Foods is baffled over what he has described as the ridiculous surge in turkey prices.

Ho does not sell halal turkey, as his clientele are mostly foreigners and locals celebrating Christmas.

He sells imported non-halal turkey from the US and has been selling the American turkey for the past 10 years.

“In previous years, the wholesale price for turkey was below RM10 but this year, turkey prices have shot up even for the non-halal ones from the US,” he said.

“Now, I pay more than RM20 for a bird while the halal turkey from Australia is going for more than RM30 at supermarket,” Ho said.

Ho does not sell frozen turkey but roasted ones with the whole works thrown in.

Last year, the roasted turkey at Mr Ho's is sold at RM280 per 7kg to 8kg bird but this year, a similar sized roasted turkey is priced at RM350.

“I have limited my stock of turkey to 350 birds this year whereas last year, I sold close to 600 turkeys. Last year, RM15 was considered the ceiling price, this year, the ceiling price is around RM20,” Ho said.

“The turkey from Australia is too expensive and I don't understand why this is so,” he said.

“In the US and Australia, the turkey is a common product used for roasts and making turkey ham, so why is it so expensive at this time of the year?” he asked.

Aeon Jusco merchandising manager Hana Chiu said that last year, non-halal turkey was sold for less than RM20 at the supermarket.

“This year, turkey prices are at its highest and these are turkeys from Australia. Two years ago, we ordered five tonnes of turkey but this year, we only committed to two tonnes,” she said.

Aeon Jusco stores, she said, sold halal and non-halal Goldfield Turkeys from Australia.

Chiu said that both halal and non-halal turkeys were priced at RM29.90 per kg.

Tesco, Carrefour and Cold Storage also sell Goldfield Turkeys with the halal certification from the Islamic Development Department (Jakim).

The turkey prices differ from one supermarket to the other. The highest is RM36.99 per kg for a Goldfield halal turkey.

For those wanting roasted turkey, Solid Side Food Industries Sdn Bhd, which operates at Cold Storage, Carrefour, Jusco and Village Grocer’s, sells the non-halal Solisege's roasted turkey with stuffing and gravy.

Jusco Taman Maluri's Solid Side counter supervisor Edwin Chang said that last year, a 5kg bird was priced at RM169.

“This year, the price for a 5kg bird is RM199. Bigger birds are priced at between RM229 and RM259,” he said.

Last year, imported turkey became a controversial issue after Jakim issued a statement advising Muslims not to consume imported turkey and turkey-based products meant for Christmas and New Year celebrations, as they were deemed non-halal.

A source said that the difficulty in getting halal turkey from the US had resulted in local importers sourcing for halal turkey from Australia.

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