PETALING JAYA: Restaurants and bakeries are mindful of having to increase their prices, should the price of sugar be raised.Restaurant & Bistro Owners Association vice-president Jeremy Lim said while sugar was just a small component of the total food composition used by them, any price increase would still impact operators.

       Food operators, he said, would have to eventually pass on the additional costs to consumers.

       “We have been put under so much pressure due to the rising cost of manpower, fuel and protein such as chicken and eggs.

       “We will feel the pinch and eventually the cost will be passed on to consumers,” he said when contacted.

       Malaysian Bakery, Biscuit, Confectionery, Mee and Kuay Teow Merchants Association president Lai Yee Kein said the impact of any price increase would depend on a bakery’s products and also on the percentage of sugar used in a product.

       If the percentage of sugar used in a product is low, then the increase in production cost would be minimal and would not affect profits much, he said.

       Thus, it would depend on the individual manufacturer on whether they would want to increase prices or not, he added.

       “However, if the sugar usage in a product is high, then of course, prices will increase,” he said.