Singapore noodle hawkers feel pinch as cost of flour goes up and up and up

Shree Ann Mathavan, The New Paper 30 Mar 08;

30 March 2008

YOU can no longer get the famous bak chor mee (minced pork noodles) at Fengshan Market and Food Centre in Bedok North for $2

Mr Sim Chee Huat, 56, co-owner of the stall, said only the $2.50 and $3 versions are now available.

The reason the price of noodles has jumped about 50 per cent this month, from $1.30 to $2 per kg.

Mr Sim said the business, which typically sells 400 to 500 bowls a day, saw a 10 per cent drop in profit after he stopped selling the $2 version.

He sighed: 'It's hard to make a living because the noodle prices keep jumping and jumping.'

Mr Sim explained he had to strike off the $2 option, because he would be running at a loss otherwise.

The cost of each bowl of his noodles, excluding labour, is about $1.30, he said.

Still, he plans to resist raising prices again, despite the upward trend of noodle prices.

'If we keep increasing prices, people won't want to come anymore,' he said with a sigh.

INCREASE AGAIN

But his noodle supplier has already warned him that prices will increase again next month - although he's not certain yet by how much.

Which means profit margins aren't likely to improve any time soon, Mr Sim noted glumly.

Noodle costs are linked to climbing wheat prices, which is also pushing up the prices of other flour-based products like bread.

Mr Png Geo Lian, 70, chairman of the Association of Chinese Wheat Flour Merchants of Singapore, said the price of flour has increased four times since September last year.

This is due to a world-wide wheat shortage, he said.

According to him, a 25kg bag of flour cost $20.40 early last year, but now it costs $35, a 75 per cent increase.

This paints a bleak scenario for Mr Lim Yu Gee, 64, who sells Hokkien mee in the same food centre as Mr Sim.

He has had to increase the price of his noodles from $2.50 to $3 because of rising costs.

The increase saw his business drop by about 30 per cent, he said.

Now, Mr Lim sells about a hundred odd plates of noodles each day.

Each month, his profits hover around $900.

He feels there should be price controls to help small-time businesses like his.

Moreover as Mr Lim pointed out: 'This is a hawker centre, it's not a very high-class setting, so people won't be willing to pay very much.'

Still, if the price of noodles keeps climbing, he said he will have to increase prices again.

'I have to eat, I have to make money - if not I will close shop,' he said.

While some hawkers might have made price adjustments, others, like the bak chor mee stall at Seng Huat Eating House on North Bridge Road, don't have any plans to do so - yet.

Hawker Tan Kim Hock, 47, said the price of noodles at the stall has been maintained at $3, during the three years he has worked there.

Perhaps, what helps is the volume of business.

On any given day, the stall sells 'at least 500 bowls of noodles'.

Mr Tan explained: 'We have business, but we still worry that if we raise prices, our customers may not want to come back.'

Mrs Loo Siok Hwa, 30, a worker at Parklane Zha Yun Tun Mee House in Sunshine Plazaon Bencoolen Street said her shop increased the price of a plate of noodles by 50 cents to $3.50 last year.

Business then dropped by about 10 per cent to about 200 plates of noodles daily.

She summed up the hawkers' predicament by saying in Mandarin: 'We increase by 50 cents and customers complain a lot.

'If we increase again, we will be finished.'

And what do customers have to say?

Miss Frances Wu, 27, an administrator, said that if the hawker fare is good, it warrants going back.

She said: 'We still have to eat. I won't stop patronising the hawkers just because there's a slight increase.'

However, she added: 'If hawker food increases to $3, I think that's still acceptable, but if it goes up to $4, then perhaps not.'