Steps to Diversify Sources of Seafood and Vegetable Items Ahead of Major Festivities to Mitigate Price Increases

19 Mr Melvin Yong Yik Chye asked the Minister for Trade and Industry (a) what measures has the Ministry taken to diversify the sources of popular seafood and vegetable items ahead of major festivities; (b) whether existing measures have helped mitigate the rise in the costs of such items; and (c) whether more can be done to keep prices affordable for consumers.

The Minister of State for Trade and Industry (Ms Low Yen Ling) (for the Minister for Trade and Industry): Mr Speaker, the Government has been actively diversifying our food supply sources. Most of our top vegetable and seafood imports are well-diversified, with over 10 source countries, which include China, Vietnam, Indonesia, Australia, various European countries, the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and even Ecuador. This has helped to strengthen the resilience of our seafood and vegetable supplies.

Nonetheless, prices of popular food items tend to rise ahead of festive periods because of a surge in demand. Retailers and importers would try to mitigate this by planning ahead and securing more supplies from multiple sources.

Apart from the diversification of food import sources, the Government continues to work with the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) to promote consumer awareness and help consumers make informed purchasing decisions.

Mr Speaker: Mr Melvin Yong.

Mr Melvin Yong Yik Chye (Radin Mas): Thank you, Mr Speaker. I have two supplementary questions and I thank the Minister of State for her reply earlier.

Singapore is a small city-state with very limited resources. Only 1% of our land is available for food production and over 90% of our food is imported. From a world that is increasingly being disrupted by both climate change and also supply chain issues, can the Minister of State share with us what are the factors that play a part in influencing food prices today and how is MTI helping to keep the prices of our food stable in spite of all these challenges?

Ms Low Yen Ling: Mr Speaker, Sir, I want to thank the Member Mr Melvin Yong for his two supplementary questions. I want to assure him and everyone in the House that MTI, the Government and the various Government agencies will spare no efforts in our multi-pronged strategy to keep our food supplies and food prices stable.

He has two supplementary questions. On the first one, he asked what are the factors that contribute to and influence the cost of food. There are many. There are a combination of factors and these include imported prices, animal feed, energy costs, freight costs, labour costs, seasonal weather patterns and possible supply chain disruptions. I want to share with Mr Melvin Yong that the regional weather disruptions that are currently putting upside pressures on Singapore's imported food prices should fade as the monsoon season passes. The general appreciation of the Singapore dollar against the currencies of many of our key import source countries will also continue to temper cost pressures.

To Mr Melvin Yong's second supplementary question, as a small and open economy that imports most of our food supply, Singapore is, indeed, impacted by trade and possible supply chain disruptions. The Government has in place a multi-pronged strategy involving import diversification, local production "30 by 30" and also stockpiling to reduce the impact of unforeseen disruptions to our food supply. This also serves to lower our vulnerability to larger price fluctuations and ensure that the prices remain competitive. This strategy is important because, to a certain extent, it will help to act as an important hedge to mitigate the risks of price and also supply disruptions.

I want to assure Mr Melvin Yong that to ensure the continuity of our food supply, MTI has been working very closely with our local companies, especially in the past few years, to ensure sufficient supply of essential food items.

Today, we import our food from 170 countries all over the world. I also want to add that our multi-level mitigation efforts include bringing in stocks ahead of time where possible by working closely with our importers, distributors and even our retailers to anticipate and even mitigate delays as well as closely monitoring and looking out for potential disruptors.

I was very heartened and I am sure all of us are very heartened to learn about the efforts by our retailers, such as the FairPrice Group and some of our supermarkets. They are making concerted efforts to moderate prices despite the cost pressures and disrupted supply chain. Just yesterday, we read that FairPrice supermarket announced their "Stretch Your Dollar" campaign which will give consumers and customers a weekly additional 5% discount on basic food items every Friday, I believe, starting on 4 March. And besides existing discount schemes for the Pioneer and Merdeka Generations and blue CHAS cardholders, FairPrice is lowering or holding the prices of popular breakfast items stable in their Kopitiam and Foodfare chains. And this morning, as I read the Lianhe Zaobao, I was also very heartened to read that not just FairPrice but other supermarkets, like Giant, Sheng Siong, Prime and also HAO mart, have also come up with very creative ways to keep the prices to consumers friendly. So, I want to assure Mr Melvin Yong and everyone in the House that MTI, the Government and relevant agencies, like SFA and MSE, will spare no efforts in our multi-pronged approach to keep our food supply and food prices stable.