Here Are The Fruits & Other Food Items That Might Cost Extra Starting Next Month
This is due to the upcoming expanded Sales and Service Tax (SST).
Cover image via Gemini AdvancedThe Malaysian government will expand the list of items covered under the 5% Sales and Service Tax (SST) starting next month
This includes a wide range of groceries, from everyday fruits to dairy products, and even frozen vegetables.
Technically, SST targets businesses like manufacturers, importers, and producers, but in reality, that extra 5% usually trickles down to consumers through higher prices.
The government has clarified that under the new policy, a 5% sales tax will apply to both locally manufactured goods and imported items. But here's the key catch: locally grown fruits will remain tax-exempt.
Here is a breakdown of all the food categories affected under the updated SST list.
Imported fruits (fresh, dried, frozen, or preserved)
- Bananas (Lady finger, Cavendish, Chestnut, and plantains)
- Apples, pears, quinces
- Grapes, mangoes, mangosteens, papayas, pineapples, avocados, guavas, citrus fruits (oranges, lemons, limes, pomelos)
- Berries: strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, gooseberries, cranberries, bilberries, melons (including watermelons)
- Durian, rambutan, longans, lychees, lanzones, jackfruit (cempedak and nangka)
- Dragon fruit, ciku (sapodilla), jujube, tamarind, starfruit, soursop/sweetsop, bell fruit
- Frozen or preserved fruits, jams, jellies, marmalades, fruit pastes
- Fruit juices and coconut water (unfermented)
Dairy and dairy-based products
- Yogurt (including flavoured or fruit-added)
- Buttermilk, kephir, curdled milk, cream (including sweetened)
- Whey, anhydrous butterfat, ghee, butteroil
- Cheese and curd
- Natural honey
- Ice cream and other edible ice
Vegetables and legumes
- Fresh or chilled vegetables (spinach, sweet corn, mushrooms, onions, cucumbers, olives, etc.)
- Frozen vegetables (uncooked or boiled)
- Leguminous vegetables: peas, beans
- Dried or preserved vegetables (shiitake, wood ear, truffles, etc.)
- Pickled vegetables (preserved in vinegar)
- Tomatoes and mushrooms preserved otherwise than vinegar
Nuts, seeds, and roots
- Almonds, pistachios, walnuts, cashews, macadamia, hazelnuts, Brazil nuts, pine nuts
- Areca nuts, kola nuts
- Coconuts (fresh or dried)
- Sago, arrowroot, sweet potatoes, manioc, Jerusalem artichokes
- Buckwheat, millet, quinoa, fonio, triticale
Processed and packaged foods
- Pasta (cooked or uncooked), noodles, couscous
- Tapioca pearls, cereal flakes (e.g. cornflakes)
- Bread, pastries, cakes, biscuits (including with cocoa)
- Preserved or crystallised fruit/nuts
- Cereal groats, starches (wheat, corn, potato, cassava)
- Cocoa products (cocoa powder, paste, butter, fat)
Others
- Sugar: cane, beet, palm, coconut sugar, maple syrup
- Artificial honey
- Fruit peels preserved in brine or other solutions
- Maté and vanilla
- Vegetable and fruit juices
- Salt and sodium chloride
- Meat and edible meat offal
- Fish, fish fillets and other fish meat
- Rock lobster, crabs, king crabs, shrimps, and prawns
- Oysters, mussels, sea cucumbers
