Your morning cup of coffee at the regular kopitiam (traditional coffeeshop) is expected to cost up to 60 sen more from next year.

Malaysia Singapore Coffee Shop Proprietors General Association president Wong Teu Hoon told news portal The Malaysian Insight (TMI) that this due to rising operating costs.

"The price will increase 20-30 sen in rural areas, and 40-60 sen in urban areas.

"The rent is higher in certain areas so the prices will also be higher," Wong was quoted saying.

According to Wong, the new prices is merely to help coffeeshop owners manage their rising operation costs, and not for profit's sake.

He said the prices of many things, from condensed milk and evaporated milk used to make coffee, as well as cooking gas, and premise rental, have all recently gone up.

In addition, the salary of a foreign worker has also gone up from RM1,200 to RM1,650, and the annual foreign worker agency fee has shot up to RM9,500 from RM6,000, Wong added.

This has resulted in coffeeshops being understaffed, said the report.

TMI also spoke to coffeeshop operators' association heads in several states, who acknowledged the increase in the price of raw items, overhead costs, and employees' salaries.

Given such scenario, some said that they are "forced" to increase prices from January 1 next year, while some others said that they will adopt the wait-and-see approach, as they don't want to risk losing existing customers amid the challenging economic outlook.


Source: TMI
Photo source: Astro Awani