SINGAPORE: Singapore’s food stockpiles are meant for security purposes for the country and are not to be used to influence food prices in the market, said Senior Minister of State for Sustainability and the Environment Zaqy Mohamad.
These stockpiles of essential food items “serve as a buffer” to ensure that the country’s basic needs can be met during times of food supply disruptions, such as pandemics as well as longer-term situations like wars or blockades, said Mr Zaqy in parliament on Thursday (Nov 6).
At the same time, Singapore’s food stockpiles are not intended as a “mechanism to influence food prices” and are not meant to “flood the market” to drive prices down, Mr Zaqy explained.
He was responding to questions by MP Foo Cexiang (PAP-Tanjong Pagar) and MP Hany Soh (PAP-Marsiling-Yew Tee) on how stockpiled food is used and whether there was scope to mitigate rising food supply prices faced by merchants and hawkers.
Ms Soh said the F&B businesses she spoke to are deliberating if they should transfer the higher costs to consumers, which would “invariably” affect cost of living.
To this, Mr Zaqy said the food price mechanism is separate from Singapore’s move to stockpile food for contingencies.
“We should distinguish between stockpiling and price mechanisms for food and other supplies, because we should not then mess around with our stockpiles to try to influence food prices across Singapore,” Mr Zaqy said.
