GEORGE TOWN, Aug 2 — The price of shuttlecocks has shot up to about RM10 per tube of a dozen in recent weeks, especially the brands using real goose feathers.
Even brands with synthetic feathers have hiked up the prices of shuttlecocks by about RM5 to RM7 per tube of a dozen.
Sitt Sports Centre shop owner Lim Chong Sitt said this is not the first time the prices of shuttlecocks have increased.
“This is the third time they hike up the prices this year, they hike it up almost every two to three months,” he said when met at his shop along Jalan Air Itam here.
Lim Chong Sitt, 75, who owns Sitt Sport Centre, said prices of shuttlecocks have increased three times this year, up to RM10 per tube, with the high-end ones costing about RM170 per tube. — Picture by Opalyn Mok
Currently, a tube of shuttlecocks costs between RM20 for the lower end synthetic ones to the higher end goose-feathered at RM170 per tube, according to Lim.
He said it is normal for the price of shuttlecocks to increase every year but the multiple increases this year were unprecedented.
“It has affected business slightly, casual players may just stop playing more frequently and stop buying shuttlecocks regularly,” he said.
However, he said serious tournament players who are in large badminton clubs and groups may not be affected at all.
Lim, who is also a masters badminton player and recently won gold medals for singles and doubles at the Sarawak International Masters Badminton Championship 2024, said tournament players continue to play unfazed by the price hikes.
“Each time we go to court, there are more than 10 people per session and each tube has a dozen shuttlecocks so the cost for the shuttlecocks for each player comes up to only RM1 or less, so who cannot afford RM1 per session?” he said.
The 75-year-old plays badminton daily after he closes his shop in the evenings and is member to a number of badminton groups and clubs, each with between 20 to 80 members.
“Badminton is one of the cheapest sports among all the other sports, even with the price increase,” he said.
As for badminton academies, it would mean a higher operating costs in training professional badminton players.
Art Sport Badminton Academy manager, Choo Tze Liang, said the price hike meant an increase of about 10 to 15 per cent in equipment costs for the academy.
However, he said this does not translate to higher costs for the badminton players under training as they are already paying for training fees.
“We have no choice but to absorb the increase in costs as we cannot compromise on the quality and must only use high quality shuttlecocks for training,” he said.
Art Sport Badminton Academy, which also trains players for the state team, has to absorb increasing costs of shuttlecocks of about 10 to 15 per cent. — Picture courtesy of Art Sport Badminton Academy.
The academy currently has over 500 players and about 30 in its state and pre-state team.
He said cheaper alternatives may only be used for children starting to learn to play badminton.
Meanwhile, for casual players, the hike in price may lead to them finding ways to cut back such as recycling the shuttlecocks or using it as long as possible before changing it.
Jeremy Kua, 46, plays badminton with his friends and family once a week and spends between RM50 and RM80 per tube of shuttlecocks.
“Now that it is more expensive, we try not to waste each shuttlecock and make do with it as long as possible before changing it,” he said.
Since there are children in his group of six who plays each week, he said the children will usually get the used shuttlecocks from the adult groups.
“They will have their own tube of either the cheaper ones or some of the used ones from the adult group,” he said.
Another casual player, Khuzairy Ismail, 30, said he had to cut down from playing three times a week to once a week due to the higher costs coupled with higher rental fees for courts.
“Previously, two hours of badminton costs up to RM15 but now, it could go up to RM25 per session,” he said.
In Petaling Jaya, the smaller shops seemed to have increased the prices for feather shuttlecocks.
When surveyed, sporting goods store Titan Badminton said that their price for shuttlecocks had increased around RM6 to RM9.
The same situation occurred at sporting goods stores Galaxy Sports and Petaling Sports.
For RSL brand shuttlecocks, Petaling Sports pasted a notice about the price hike that began on June 24 this year right above the shuttlecocks.
The reasoning was due to an “increase in raw material costs and other comprehensive cost.”
However, bigger sporting goods stores such as Yonex Concept Store by Vsmash and Decathlon were unaffected by the current demands of the shuttlecock market citing stable prices for the past few months.
It was recently reported that the price of goose and duck feathers used to make high-end shuttlecocks have increased due to a fall in supply of the poultry meat in China.
It was reported by CNA that live pig prices have dropped continuously since November 2022 which led to higher consumer demand resulting in fewer famers are willing to raise ducks and geese.
CNA reported that the prices of shuttlecocks had increased by about 40 per cent in the past six months for some brands including Yonex, RSL and Ling-Mei.