The recent wet weather has bestowed us with air-con weather, but it seems that’s not all it has given us.
Some farms in Malaysia have allegedly been suffering from floods as a result of heavy rain, causing a shortage of vegetable supplies here in Singapore — and in turn leading to an increase in vegetable prices at our wet markets.
As Chinese New Year (CNY) approaches, prices of seafood like fish and prawns have also gradually increased.
Prices of vegetables at wet markets have already begun to surge over the past week.
Across wet markets in Singapore, vegetable stalls have almost doubled their prices due to poor weather conditions in Malaysia.
Speaking to The Straits Times (ST), a Pasir Ris vegetable stall owner remarked that it has been hard to transport goods from Malaysia due to the constant rain.
To make matters worse, a lot of crops are lost in such weather. This is especially true for leafy vegetables such as spinach that “spoil easily in water“.
For other vegetable stalls, supplies had to be imported from other neighbouring countries like Thailand and Malaysia, which reportedly cost more.
The price increase of vegetables is rather significant.
According to ST, tomato prices have almost doubled to $3, up from the initial $1-$2 per kilogram at some markets.
Since Nov 2020, prices of spinach, long bean, and chilli padi have also experienced an increase.
For spinach, the price per kilogram has gone from between $3-$5 to about $6-$8 at a Pasir Ris market.
This trend also seems consistent with other wet markets islandwide.
The vice-secretary of Singapore Fruits & Vegetables Importers & Exporters Association chimed in, saying prices of tomatoes from Malaysia had surged between 150% and 200% within just a week.
While prices have always increased during end-of-year monsoon seasons, the drastic rise this year is unusual, reported ST.
He assured Singaporeans that prices should soon stabilise as stalls look to Vietnam and Thailand for alternative suppliers.
Vegetables are not the only food products that have seen an increase in price.
Fish prices have also risen. Chinese pomfret and red snapper – 2 popular kinds of fish – have experienced a price increase of about 20% and is expected to rise an additional 10% with CNY fast approaching.
Other seafood like prawns have also seen a slight price increase.
With such erratic and unusual heavy rain, price fluctuations like these are inevitable.
Hopefully, prices will stabilise soon as stalls look to alternative suppliers.
Have you noticed the price increase of vegetables and fish in your neighbourhood wet market? Let us know in the comments down below.
Have news you must share? Get in touch with us via email at hello@mustsharenews.com.
Featured image adapted from Flickr.
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