The main problem is that Singaporeans have grown used to paying prices that the market can no longer bear. When the government moved the first generation of hawkers off the streets and into fixed locations with electricity, clean running water and regular hygiene inspections, it kept rents artificially low as an incentive. Roughly half of the 6,258 government-managed stalls pay rents as low as S$160 ($120.80) a month. The other half, however, must pay market rates, which can exceed S$4,100 a month. These stallholders must compete with each other on price. People will not pay S$8 for a bowl of fishball noodles that they can get for S$3 two stalls away.
Singaporean food
How much longer can they satay?
May 16th 2015
SINGAPORE
Pining for the old ways
GOLDEN fishcakes from the size of a golf-ball to that of a baguette; mounds of chopped, glazed pork skin and offal waiting to be strewn on rice sheets and lashed with a savoury broth; fluorescent rows of steamed rice cakes—elbow your way through the lunch crowds at Tiong Bahru food centre and it is hard to believe that crisis looms.
Yet over a bowl of bak kut teh—braised pork ribs in a peppery stock—Leslie Tay worries about the future of Singapore’s famous “hawker food”, the affordable fare once sold by itinerant street-sellers but now found in stalls housed in 100-odd hawker centres dotted around the island. Dr Tay, who runs an indispensable blog, ieatishootipost, dedicated to ferreting out the best stalls, frets that Singapore may be seeing the end of hawker food in its current form.
The main problem is that Singaporeans have grown used to paying prices that the market can no longer bear. When the government moved the first generation of hawkers off the streets and into fixed locations with electricity, clean running water and regular hygiene inspections, it kept rents artificially low as an incentive. Roughly half of the 6,258 government-managed stalls pay rents as low as S$160 ($120.80) a month. The other half, however, must pay market rates, which can exceed S$4,100 a month. These stallholders must compete with each other on price. People will not pay S$8 for a bowl of fishball noodles that they can get for S$3 two stalls away.
Some newer hawkers have turned to branding across multiple centres. This works well for foods such as fishballs and chicken rice that can be made in a central kitchen and then delivered to multiple stalls. It works less well for dishes such as char kway teow—Singapore’s hot mess of fat rice noodles, sausage, cockles and bean sprouts—that need a master at a wok. Some chefs have gone upscale: pasta, for baffling reasons, commands higher prices than Asian noodles. Others treat stalls as incubators, trying out their talents before taking the plunge and opening a restaurant.
The government, says Dr Tay, “has committed to providing cheap food for the masses”. With tiny flats and cramped kitchens, and with the number of two-working-parent families steadily rising, plenty of Singaporeans count on hawker markets for their sustenance. But with the first generation of hawkers retiring and their replacements paying market rents, food prices will certainly rise.
And as the masses change, so will the food. Some Singaporeans lament that a recent influx of immigrants from northern China has made their traditional Teochew or Hokkien favourites harder to find. Out has gone ampang yong tau foo, beanpaste-slathered tofu filled with minced fish. In has come mala xiang guo, a tongue-numbing Sichuan-style dish. In 20 years’ time, a S$3 bowl of Teochew minced-meat noodles could be as hard to find as a free table at lunchtime.
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Mar 11, 2015
Singapore Budget 2015: 10 more hawker centres to be built by 2027
By Audrey Tan
SINGAPORE - Ten more hawker centres will be built over the next 12 years in a bid to moderate food prices here, Second Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Grace Fu said in Parliament on Wednesday.
These will be built in new estates or in existing ones that are relatively under-served, such as Bidadari, Sengkang, Choa Chu Kang, Bukit Panjang and Bukit Batok, Ms Fu said during the debate on her ministry's budget.
This is on top of the commitment by the Ministry for the Environment and Water Resources (MEWR) in 2011 to build 10 hawker centres over 10 years. The first two of those centres will open in Bukit Panjang and Hougang this year.
"Altogether, the 20 new centres will inject an additional supply of more than 800 cooked food stalls and we believe this will help to further moderate rentals," Ms Fu said.
Market competition can help keep food prices in check, because food prices tend to fall as the number of stalls selling the same type of food increases.
Although the price of food may differ from one hawker centre to another, a statistical analysis has found that if there is one other stall selling a similar type of food in the same centre, prices are on average 8.4 per cent lower.
The rise in the number of hawker stalls is one measure the ministry is taking to ensure food prices do not increase too much over time.
In response to concerns from MPs about rises in hawker centre rents, Ms Fu noted on Wednesday that the average rents of the six hawker centres in Toa Payoh were around $650 per month, with more than half of the stalls, primarily subsidised ones, paying $320 or less.
But if such stalls are excluded, average rents are around $1,100 per month, "which compares favourably to the coffee shops or food courts nearby", she added.
Overall, more than 85 per cent of hawkers pay less than $1,500 in monthly rent, Ms Fu said.
Pointing to an analysis of the drivers of food prices conducted in 2014 by the Ministry of Trade and Industry and MEWR, Ms Fu said that rentals only comprise about 12 per cent of a hawker's costs - a small fraction compared to the more than 50 per cent spent on raw materials.
Manpower costs contribute to about 17 per cent of total costs, with 9 per cent coming from utilities and 3 per cent from table cleaning and other costs.
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