BUKIT MERTAJAM:With Chinese New Year (CNY) in less than a week away, it is supposed to be the busiest period for traditional joss stick maker, Ong Chin Chye, but not this year.

The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting his business, with the order for traditional joss stick having dropped by over 30 percent since March last year.

Ong, 61, said at this time last year, he had to work round the clock with his workers to meet orders from customers who are from as far as Thailand, Kelantan, Kuala Lumpur, Kedah, Perlis and Perak.

"Last year, all my staff had to burn the midnight oil to complete the customers' orders for Chinese New Year...we all had to work from 8 am until midnight everyday.

"Since the outbreak of the pandemic, our order has gone down, forcing me to hire some of my staff on part-time basis," he told Bernama when met at his factory in Kubang Semang.

Ong said most of the orders he received are from temples, but with the strict standard operating procedures on opening of temples during the Movement Control Order (MCO), it is affecting his business.

"The temples usually order in bulk, of  about 100-200 sticks ...but this year they only make small orders and we have to rely on individual orders to survive," he added.

However, Ong said most of his customers prefer handcrafted products, which is the reason he continues to make joss sticks the old-fashion way without using any machine.

He learned to make joss stick from his grandmother when he was only 14-years-old.

"The toughest process in making a big joss stick is crafting the dragon on the outer layer, especially the three-dimension type," he said.

Ong, who has 14 workers to help him at the factory, said they were able to produce more than 150 medium-sized dragon joss sticks per day in 50 designs.

Some are custom-made as requested by customers, he added.

He said the most sought-after dragon joss sticks at Chinese New Year are usually the medium-sized ones, measuring from 1.8 metre to 2.3 metre, with price ranging from RM18 to RM60 each.

"I do raise the price as I understand that during this challenging time, everyone is suffering and I hope this pandemic will soon be contained so that everyone can get back to their normal life," he said.

-- BERNAMA