KOTA BARU: As the Chinese New Year celebration draws closer, many hypermarket and supermarket operators in Kelantan have started to increase their supply mandarin oranges to cope up with the demand from local buyers. Even so, most operators pointed out that demand is lower this year compared to the previous years.
Supermarkets in Kota Baru spotted with ample amount of mandarin oranges include the Billion shopping complex and Pacific Hypermarket and Department Store here.
According to Pacific’s assistant senior manager Steven Chew, the hypermarket has started bringing in mandarin orange since early this month.
“We have received almost 10,000 boxes from our headquarters in Klang, Selangor. We also realised that not only are the Chinese buying the mandarin oranges but even the Malays have taken to the sweet taste these juicy fruits,” he said, adding that they will be bringing in more stocks of mandarin oranges.
Apart from gifts of Mandarin oranges, the Chinese community also favour the kat chai (in Cantonese) or limau kasturi trees as they believe if the tree graced the doorways of homes, it signifies good fortune.