JOHOR BAHRU - For two consecutive nights, Ms Loh Mui Peng’s family enjoyed steamed sea prawns drizzled with soy sauce and Chinese cooking wine. “I steamed them with the skin on and with a simple seasoning of sesame oil, soy sauce, white pepper, ginger and Chinese cooking wine as I wanted to keep the sweetness of the prawns. “The dish was a hit with my family,” said Ms Loh, 60.
The sumptuous dinner came courtesy of a drop in the price of fresh sea prawns due to an oversupply. Ms Loh said she used to buy prawns infrequently as they tend to be pricey. “Large sea prawns that are almost the size of my hand were considered a luxury for us due to the price.
“During Chinese New Year, they can cost more than RM100 per kg,” said the mother-of-one. “So, when I heard the fishmonger saying that sea prawns are cheap at the moment, I decided to buy RM70 (S$20) worth at the wet market last week, which amounted to about 2kg.” She plans to buy another 2kg of sea prawns this weekend to share with her daughter who does not have time to go to the wet market due to work commitments.
Wild prawn catches of up to five times the usual amount have led to an oversupply of the crustaceans nationwide. This has also caused the price of sea prawns (udang laut), typically sold at RM48 per kg for medium-sized ones, to drop by RM10, or about 20 per cent. Malaysia Fish Suppliers’ Association deputy president Tai Wai Sun said the abundance of sea prawns was due to high tide and strong currents particularly in the west coast of Malaysia.
“The strong currents swept the sea bed, causing the prawns to swim closer to the surface. “Fishing trawlers have been netting in sea prawns weighing up to one tonne daily for the past few weeks compared to the usual few hundreds of kg previously,” he said when interviewed. Mr Tai said the price reduction could be seen all over the country as the west coast fishermen supplied seafood nationwide as well as to Singapore.
The fishing community, he said, started seeing this phenomenon in the second half of June. He explained that this was a seasonal occurrence as fishermen would not always enjoy such good harvests. “However, we are now faced with an oversupply of prawns because the quantities have gone way up but the buying power has not changed much.
“This has caused the market to be in a ‘mess’ where fishermen are selling the prawns cheap to avoid keeping the stock for too long as it can go stale,” he said. Mr Tai said some of these prawns were sold cheap via live ecommerce sites, while others were sold to factories to pack and process into frozen products. Mr Tai, who is also the Johor Baru Fish Suppliers’ Association chairman, said this was a good time for consumers to get sea prawns at a cheaper price as some fishermen have started seeing signs of dwindling harvest in the past few days.
Mr Teo Yew Song, who runs a third-generation seafood wholesale business at the Taman Perling wet market here, said his suppliers from Perak, Penang and Pontian in Johor have had an abundance of sea prawns each day.“Their fishing trawlers could catch up to one tonne of sea prawns each day, compared to the usual 100kg to 200kg,” he said. Besides sea prawns, he said the price of solo prawns (udang solo) have also dropped to RM20 per kg from RM25 per kilogramme.
Despite the price reduction, he found no significant increase in consumer purchase. “There was a slight jump in demand from food and beverage businesses, but for the average consumer, they are still buying about one to two kg during each shopping trip. “Furthermore, we will advise them to purchase in accordance to their consumption as sea prawns are best enjoyed fresh,” he said.
A fishmonger in Skudai, known only as Mr Chong, said his customers were happy with the lower price. “The large sea prawns, which could go up to RM80 per kg, are usually not popular among my customers due to the price. “But they can now buy it for RM70 per kg,” he said, adding that the price of farmed prawns remained unchanged with medium-sized tiger prawns going for RM30 per kg.
THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK.
