White bread: an unwarranted price increase

It's probably time to take a little action of our own against manufacturers and traders who take the slightest excuse to raise prices of consumer goods immediately whenever there is a price hike in essential commodities or the reduction of subsidies. Admittedly there's little we can do except to voice out our complaints but we can also try to boycott or avoid their products or reduce consumption wherever possible.

And I'm sure that we can find alternatives if we look hard enough.

What brought on this indignation was the reaction to the government announcement on 31 Dec 2009 of the withdrawal of subsidy on white bread effective the next day and removing bread from the price control scheme. While most bakeries have chosen to retain their old prices for the time being until their new stock of raw materials arrive, there is one recalcitrant bakery that raised its price immediately.

When I was at the market last Friday morning (that is, on 1 Jan 2010 itself, about 12 hours after the announcement), I noticed that the price of a loaf of Gardenia's sliced white sandwich bread had gone up from RM2 to RM2.20. Twenty cents may not seem much in absolute terms but that's an astounding 10 percent immediate increase in price. It's really unwarranted and a really uncalled for increase.

Could it be that this bakery was perhaps the main suspect that pressured the government to remove bread from the list of price control items or else, how could they have reacted immediately to the announcement with an overnight price hike?

Where my family is concerned, Gardenia is off the shelf at home.