From Singapore to Thailand, higher food costs hit Lunar New Year reunion dinner festivities
- Some ethnic Chinese families in Thailand are downsizing their rituals amid record pork prices and spiralling costs for meat and fruit
- In Singapore, which imports 90 per cent of its food, the pandemic and logistical woes are behind food price surges, while the Malaysian supply chain has also been hit by monsoon floods
The Lunar New Year is typically a festival of abundance and excess. But three years into the pandemic, food prices have risen across the globe thanks to a confluence of pandemic-induced supply chain constraints, bad weather that decimated crops and surging energy prices have also affected the cost of fertilisers. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s food price index reached a 10-year high last year and the World Food Programme estimates that 272 million people worldwide are at risk of becoming acutely food-insecure. This Week in Asia takes a look at various markets in the region and how ethnic Chinese families from Singapore to Thailand intend to mitigate food costs amid the festivities.
Malaysia
Before the pandemic, a family of seven in Malaysia could have a decent spread for the Lunar New Year reunion dinner for 700 ringgit (US$165), but this year the Wongs will have to spend about one-third more.
Celebrations during the Year of the Tiger will be a frugal one, said Andrew Wong, adding that even buying the cheapest dish on the table – vegetables – was just too costly.
“Last year, you could get a whole head of cabbage for 4.50 ringgit (US$1), but now it has doubled,” said Wong, a 34-year-old health care professional.
Across Malaysia, millions feel this pinch as prices of food continue to soar since the pandemic hit in 2020. People are now paying record prices for food items.
On the official Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority price list, a whole chicken can cost consumers up to 9 ringgit a kilogram, and red onions were 16 ringgit a kilo.
In 2019, the price of chicken and red onions were both around 7.50 ringgit a kilo.
To cut costs, the Wong family is reusing decorations from previous years and wearing clothes they already own instead of buying new ones. They are also not buying any new items for the house this year.
