Coconut sellers try to break even as Thaipusam sales plunge

 

During Thaipusam, more than a million coconuts are smashed along the streets of Penang. This year, with the festival cancelled, some coconut sellers are faced with losses.

GEORGE TOWN: Every year, as the Thaipusam chariot makes its way from Penang Street in Little India to Murugan temple in Waterfall Road, thousands of devotees line the street to break coconuts – more than a million will be broken along the route.

The coconut breaking ritual in Hinduism symbolises the smashing of the ego, and in the case of roadside coconut breaking, it also doubles up as “cleansing” for Lord Murugan’s chariot as it passes.

However, with the MCO this year and the cancellation of Thaipusam festivities, that tradition will be missing. However, a trader here says that sales are going on as usual.

Muhammad Anba Rasul says Thaipusam has no bearing on his business. The largest wholesaler of coconuts in the northern region said the demand for coconuts during Thaipusam was just a small portion of his total demand.

He said most of his coconuts go to wet markets and has seen an uptick in demand as more stayed at home last year during the MCO, judging from the high demand for santan.

Anba said that during the Thaipusam week in Penang, he would sell at least 300,000 fruits or more. Last year, there was a decline to 110,000 fruits, he said, as the celebrations were on a lower scale due to fears of the pandemic.

“But the wet markets are my main targets, I usually sell five times more than what I do during Thaipusam,” he said.

Anba said he had not prepared stocks for Thaipusam this year, as he had anticipated that the government might ban the festivities given the worsening pandemic.

Joel Jeyachandran, 36, who owns coconut suppling outlet Joez Coconut, was not so lucky.

According to Joel, his company was forced to shoulder a huge loss as it still had to pay the coconut supplier in Bagan Datuk, Perak for 80,000 coconuts as stipulated in the contract although the demand had plunged

“The demand for coconuts has dropped from 80,000 (last year) to zero this year. This situation is expected to drag on until the Chinese New Year festival and also Hari Raya,’’ he told Bernama when met at his premises in Jalan Datuk Keramat.

He said this was because temples would not be open for any religious ceremonies for the festival such as fulfilling vows by breaking coconuts.

“However, the demand for coconuts is normal for daily needs such as coconut milk, young coconuts and for the drink products we sell such as coconut shakes, coconut jelly and other products,” he said, adding that he would seek to mitigate his losses by selling the coconuts.

In Petaling Jaya, Shamini Perayya, the owner of SM Fresh Coconuts Enterprise, also expects a huge fall in sales during Thaipusam, to near zero.

“We used to be able to sell 30,000 or 40,000 coconuts during Thaipusam. This year I expect zero sales. It was the same last year,” she said.

Shamini, whose company distributes to a company which then distributes coconuts to supermarkets such as Giant, Tesco, Jaya Grocer and Village Grocer, said sales have dropped by half since the MCO started last year.

With the MCO restricting movement across the country, Shamini said her previous monthly volumes of 500,000 coconuts have now dwindled to 250,000 or 300,000.

“Before the MCO we used to get one lorry a day (to pick up coconuts). Now it’s probably one lorry every two or three days.”

Ed Wynn Ong, the managing director of Pandan Coconuts (M) Sdn Bhd, stressed that Thaipusam was not the only reason coconut wholesalers are facing tough times.

Supplying to F&B outlets, fruit stores and roadside stalls in the Klang Valley, Ong said business, in general, has taken a huge hit from the MCO.

“It’s not only Thaipusam. Our sales have been affected throughout the MCO (including the first one last year),” he said. “I would say the MCO has seen sales drop by 70%. While we used to sell around 10,000 coconuts a month, now we can move only 3,000.” - FMT