Prices double to $1,200 a tonne; cost of items such as tofu likely to go up
Jessica Lim, Straits Times 22 Feb 08;
A WORLDWIDE shortage of soya beans has hit Singapore hard: Importers say prices have doubled, and the cost of items such as tofu could go up soon.
Though rising food prices have affected several items, soya beans are the worst hit - from $600 a tonne a year ago, prices are now at about $1,200.
That spells bad news for a group already hit by rising prices: the less well-off.
Soya products such as tofu are a staple food for them, said Ms Anna Jacob, a nutritionist at private nutrition consultancy firm NutriVentures.
She explained: 'Soya beans are cheap, a good substitute for meat and protein-rich.'
Already, prices of soya bean products have risen in the past few months - at some places, a cup of soya bean milk costs 20 cents more. But more increases could follow.
The price hikes are down to a lack of supply from big producers such as the United States.
Farmers there are opting to plant maize and wheat - which are fetching sky-high prices because of an increased demand for bio-fuels - instead of soya beans.
Higher demand from China has also contributed to the increase in prices.
The effects have hit most Asian countries, because soya products are widely consumed there in various forms.
In Indonesia, for example, thousands of tempeh (fermented beancurd) and tofu manufacturers and vendors went on strike last month to protest against the rising prices.
And just this month, Japan initiated a fresh round of price hikes on soya products.
Soya beans are big in Singapore too, and importers last year brought in 18,974 tonnes of the stuff, which was eventually turned into products such as taupok (fried beancurd), soya sauce and tofu.
The larger manufacturers of soya bean products said they are struggling to maintain profits, and will be negotiating among themselves on a price increase soon.
Industry insiders said this could mean a 12 per cent rise in the prices of packaged soya bean products in the next few weeks.
Major tofu producer Unicurd, which supplies about 60 per cent of the packed tofu in Singapore, said it has seen profit margins fall by about 30 per cent since last year.
Said its general manager, Mr Allan Tan: 'Tofu is a cheap alternative for meat and just as protein-rich. It's a poor man's food so we try our best to keep prices unchanged.'
Tai Hua Food Industries, which produces about 5,000 tonnes of soya sauce a year, has increased prices of the soya sauce it exports - about 35 per cent of what it produces - but has kept prices of products sold here unchanged.
Both producers said they cannot keep prices down for much longer.
Previous price rises have already hit buyers and sellers.
At Tekka Market, tofu seller Ng Boon Hwee said he tagged another five to 10 cents to the price of each piece of tofu sold - an increase of 20 per cent per piece - last month.
When The Straits Times spoke to him, the 55-year-old shook his head, pointed at his stock of 150 pieces of tofu, and said he had raised prices only three times in the past 30 years.
He added that he had never seen costs so high. In fact, he said, he had to buy fewer pieces to stock his shelves because tofu is so expensive now.
A Straits Times check of eight other shops - from those in wet markets to beancurd outlets such as House of Yummy Beancurd - show that all have raised their prices by 12.5 per cent to 25 per cent over the past two months.
Beancurd chain Selegie Soyabean started charging 20cents more for a soya bean milk drink at the start of this month.
Owner Andrew Koh, 45, said a few customers 'showed black faces', but became more understanding after he explained the situation.
The bad news is that it does not look like the situation will ease any time soon.
A spokesman for Canadec, the major soya bean importer here, said the situation will not get better 'for the next two or three years'.
He said: 'This is because demand for crops like wheat and maize is still high, so acreage for soya beans is limited.'
