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Jun 3, 2011
RISING COSTS V PROMISE TO HOLD PRICES
Hawkers caught in price squeeze
Pledge movement hits a snag as some unsure if they can maintain levels
By Jamie Ee Wen Wei
Mr Lee Yi Shyan, Minister of State for Trade and Industry, placing a 'I support Retail Price Watch Group' sign at a hawker stall in March. Mr Lee is the chairman of RPWG, which was started in February to keep tabs on excessive price increases of daily necessities. -- ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM
SOME cooked-food hawkers who pledged about two months ago to hold their prices for six months are finding themselves in a pickle, now that their ingredients cost more.
With prices of meat, vegetables and oil up by as much as 10 per cent in recent months, they say it has become harder to keep their prices at the current level.
The initiative was launched in March jointly by two hawker centres in Bedok North and Kampong Chai Chee amid consumers' outcry about rising costs.
The ground-up move was supported by the Retail Price Watch Group (RPWG), which was formed by the Government in February to keep tabs on excessive price increases of daily necessities and anti-competitive behaviour among businesses here.
With other hawker centres following suit in pledging to hold prices, the movement had over 1,300 hawkers on board, each distinguished by the 'I support Retail Price Watch Group' sticker on their stall fronts. The 20 who spoke to The Straits Times this week said the recent fluctuations in raw material costs have made some of them jittery. Several said they are now unsure how much longer they can keep their prices at their current levels.
At least one, Mr Lim Yew Kee, a 58-year-old with a western food stall in Kampong Chai Chee, said he will raise prices once the campaign is over. He said his overheads have gone up by a few hundred dollars since he made the pledge. A box of 30 chicken drumsticks, for instance, now costs $10 more than it did two months ago; his suppliers told him supplies were short, so they have had to raise their prices.
Mr Lim said he will jack up his prices for some items on his menu by 50 cents when the campaign ends in August.
Another stallholder, Mr Jimmy Tan, 56, who runs a char kway teow stall, said he may not renew his pledge after six months if costs continue to climb. His earnings are already down 20 per cent, he said.
Madam Chua Chor Hiang, 51, who runs a noodle stall in Kim Keat Palm Market & Food Centre, said she also may not renew her pledge because she does not know how much further her costs will climb. But she is standing by her pledge for now, she said: 'If you made a pledge, then go against your word later, it won't be nice to customers.'
Mr Richard Teo, 51, who chairs the Kampong Chai Chee Block 207 Food Centre Area Sub-Committee, said the committee had organised the initiative to promote social responsibility and assure consumers of stable prices at food stalls there. He stressed that the hawkers had come on board voluntarily, but that if - hit by rising costs - they have to raise their prices, the committee could not stop them.
The committee will decide closer to August whether to continue with the scheme.
Some hawkers have reacted to their rising costs by staying open longer, instead of by raising their prices.
A Bedok North stallholder who wanted to be known only as Lisa, has done just this since February. She said: 'If you raise prices, some customers will not buy from you, so the solution is to sell more.'
Others have countered rising costs by raising their prices only marginally, like Mr Lai Wah Yau, 62, who sells dim sum in Redhill. He raised his prices by 10 cents before the Chinese New Year and intends to hold it at this level.
Contacted, the RPWG secretariat emphasised that the hawkers had signed up voluntarily, many of them doing so to cushion consumers against the rising prices of daily necessities which hit earlier this year.
Consumers like retiree Goh Chuan Hock, 64, said he can accept it if hawkers raise prices because 'they also need to survive', but property agent Pang Kee Fui, 56, said he hoped they will not take the opportunity to profiteer: 'I can accept it if they up their price by 10 or 20 cents. But if it goes up by 50 cents, it's too much. I don't think their cost has gone up that much.'
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RISING COSTS V PROMISE TO HOLD PRICES
Hawkers caught in price squeeze
Pledge movement hits a snag as some unsure if they can maintain levels
By Jamie Ee Wen Wei
Mr Lee Yi Shyan, Minister of State for Trade and Industry, placing a 'I support Retail Price Watch Group' sign at a hawker stall in March. Mr Lee is the chairman of RPWG, which was started in February to keep tabs on excessive price increases of daily necessities. -- ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM
SOME cooked-food hawkers who pledged about two months ago to hold their prices for six months are finding themselves in a pickle, now that their ingredients cost more.
With prices of meat, vegetables and oil up by as much as 10 per cent in recent months, they say it has become harder to keep their prices at the current level.
The initiative was launched in March jointly by two hawker centres in Bedok North and Kampong Chai Chee amid consumers' outcry about rising costs.
The ground-up move was supported by the Retail Price Watch Group (RPWG), which was formed by the Government in February to keep tabs on excessive price increases of daily necessities and anti-competitive behaviour among businesses here.
With other hawker centres following suit in pledging to hold prices, the movement had over 1,300 hawkers on board, each distinguished by the 'I support Retail Price Watch Group' sticker on their stall fronts. The 20 who spoke to The Straits Times this week said the recent fluctuations in raw material costs have made some of them jittery. Several said they are now unsure how much longer they can keep their prices at their current levels.
At least one, Mr Lim Yew Kee, a 58-year-old with a western food stall in Kampong Chai Chee, said he will raise prices once the campaign is over. He said his overheads have gone up by a few hundred dollars since he made the pledge. A box of 30 chicken drumsticks, for instance, now costs $10 more than it did two months ago; his suppliers told him supplies were short, so they have had to raise their prices.
Mr Lim said he will jack up his prices for some items on his menu by 50 cents when the campaign ends in August.
Another stallholder, Mr Jimmy Tan, 56, who runs a char kway teow stall, said he may not renew his pledge after six months if costs continue to climb. His earnings are already down 20 per cent, he said.
Madam Chua Chor Hiang, 51, who runs a noodle stall in Kim Keat Palm Market & Food Centre, said she also may not renew her pledge because she does not know how much further her costs will climb. But she is standing by her pledge for now, she said: 'If you made a pledge, then go against your word later, it won't be nice to customers.'
Mr Richard Teo, 51, who chairs the Kampong Chai Chee Block 207 Food Centre Area Sub-Committee, said the committee had organised the initiative to promote social responsibility and assure consumers of stable prices at food stalls there. He stressed that the hawkers had come on board voluntarily, but that if - hit by rising costs - they have to raise their prices, the committee could not stop them.
The committee will decide closer to August whether to continue with the scheme.
Some hawkers have reacted to their rising costs by staying open longer, instead of by raising their prices.
A Bedok North stallholder who wanted to be known only as Lisa, has done just this since February. She said: 'If you raise prices, some customers will not buy from you, so the solution is to sell more.'
Others have countered rising costs by raising their prices only marginally, like Mr Lai Wah Yau, 62, who sells dim sum in Redhill. He raised his prices by 10 cents before the Chinese New Year and intends to hold it at this level.
Contacted, the RPWG secretariat emphasised that the hawkers had signed up voluntarily, many of them doing so to cushion consumers against the rising prices of daily necessities which hit earlier this year.
Consumers like retiree Goh Chuan Hock, 64, said he can accept it if hawkers raise prices because 'they also need to survive', but property agent Pang Kee Fui, 56, said he hoped they will not take the opportunity to profiteer: 'I can accept it if they up their price by 10 or 20 cents. But if it goes up by 50 cents, it's too much. I don't think their cost has gone up that much.'
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