KUALA TERENGGANU: The rainy season here coupled with the tropical storm Pabuk which hit this beast coast state has resulted in a jump in the price of fish.
Increased price of had in turn seen business being affected at Pasar Besar Kedai Payang (PBKP).
A check at the well known wet market here saw slow going for the 20 fish mongers, whose wares were hardly picked up by consumers.
Asri Zakaria, 50, from Kampung Seberang Takir, said the natural phenomenon that begun since November last year affected the fish prices in the state.
"As a trader, we look forward to support from customers, so the question that the price of fish was deliberately raised to take advantage of consumers does not arise.
"Traders do not arbitrarily raise fish prices because they know that it eventually hurt them. The price of the fish sold depends on the current market price which in turn is based on fisherman selling it to us.
"We only make a profit of about between 50 cents to RM1 only per-kilogramme and it's not right for us to take advantage of customers,"he said at the market.
Asri said not all customers understand the fish price situation during the monsoon season and he has had to explain the reason behind the increased fish price.
"The most frequent request is for mackeral, but the fish is now priced from RM18 to RM20 per kg compared to the regular price of around RM14 per kg.
"If the 'Ikan merah' is included then there is an increase of RM32 per kg now compared to RM30 per kg at the end of last year. However, it is still at the dealer's discretion, and is still sold at RM30 per kg," he said.
Mustafa Abu Bakar, 60, from Kampung Gong Badak said the supply of fresh fish had also decreased as many fishermen could not go to sea.
"Traders are forced to utilise existing fish supplies, as well as frozen fish for sale to customers during the monsoon season.
"It's up to the customers on whether they want to buy or not because the reduced supply of fish causes prices to increase and this has become a tradition in the annual monsoon season," he said.