What may happen when “Gula naik giler” (Sugar prices go crazy)

 

Malaysia-Historical-Sugar-Inflation-CPI-chart

Malaysia-Historical-Sugar-Inflation-CPI

 

What you need to know

  • Whole sale refined sugar prices have gone up from RM1.9k to RM2.5k per tonne (+RM600 or 31.57% increase per tonne)
  • All sugar import permits withdrawn
  • Retail price of sugar remains at RM2.84/kg

 

Predictions Speculation 

  • Food manufacturing companies may pass on the increase sugar costs to consumers
  • Cham peng may breach the RM2.00 pricing in certain coffee shops
  • Profiteering may occur amongst kopitiams

prof·it·eer
ˌpräfəˈtir/
verb
gerund or present participle: profiteering
make or seek to make an excessive or unfair profit

 

From the Charts

  • Inflation is on a downtrend & at lowest point in over a decade but expected to rise in 2016 Q3 & Q4
  • Raw sugar price fluctuations can be very volatile however the general linear curve is not that steep rising only 21% in two decades
  • CPI (Cham Peng Index) shows that the price of cham peng has increased 100% (2x) in two decades

Cham Peng
hokkien dialect
drink
peng = iced
cham = mix of coffee and tea
the champagne of kopitiams

 

P.S. Yes we just brewed up the cham peng index (However, all other data is true)