Durian Price Drop: PM Anwar To Negotiate For Expanded Market Access To China

TANGKAK: The plight of durian farmers facing a drop in prices following the almost simultaneous harvest season of the king of fruits in the Peninsula has caught the attention of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who promised to bring the issue to the negotiation table with his counterpart from China, Li Qiang, next month.

He said that the effort aims to find ways to expand market access for Malaysian durians to China, thus helping to increase demand and stabilise prices that are currently affecting farmers’ incomes.

“Alright, I promise one thing… Li Qiang, the Prime Minister of China, is a good friend of mine… I will go to China next month and I want to bring durians because I see prices have dropped.

“China has high standards, very high, but I will (try to) negotiate,” he said when speaking at the Friendly Session with PMX at the Gambir State Legislative Assembly (DUN) here tonight.

Also present were Johor State Election (PRN) Pakatan Harapan (PH) Machinery Director, Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari; Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability who is also Ledang Member of Parliament, Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh; and PH candidate for the Gambir DUN, Mohd Nor Mohd Yusof.

Anwar said that the good relations between Malaysia and China should be leveraged to open up more trade opportunities that will ultimately benefit local entrepreneurs and farmers, especially when facing a glut of produce.

In another development, he said that Malaysia remains among the countries offering fuel prices at the lowest rates to the people, as a result of government intervention measures despite world oil prices facing pressure due to geopolitical uncertainty in West Asia.

The Finance Minister said that the conflict involving Iran and the United States has put pressure on oil prices based on economic principles and supply disruptions, but the government has chosen to continue protecting the people from the impact of the price increase.

“No country in the world has fuel prices going down like Malaysia… Malaysia is the only country with the lowest fuel prices in the world… it is not easy (to lower fuel prices)… we (the Cabinet) discussed it because I could not bear (to see fuel prices increase).

“If we follow economics, follow the laws or policies, economic policies, fuel prices must go up, but what about the people? That is why I do not agree with price increases, fuel price increases, and we lower them,” he said.

The current retail prices for fuel in Malaysia from 1 to 8 July are set at RM3.37 per litre for RON97 and diesel at RM3.97 per litre, but the people receive lower rates of RM1.99 per litre for RON95 and RM2.10 per litre for diesel under the BUDI MADANI initiative.

Bernama