Supermarkets re-stock as rice sales pick up
Shops see brisk sales as shoppers snap up favourite brands amid price and supply concerns; cheaper brands left untouched
Tessa Wong, Straits Times 4 Apr 08;
BAGS of rice flew off the shelves yesterday as more shoppers loaded up on the staple, despite assurances from the Government that there is no shortage.
Four out of nine supermarkets visited by The Straits Times yesterday faced near-empty shelves by the afternoon, although stocks were quickly replenished.
Several supermarket chains said sales have gone up steadily since Sunday. Some outlets have been re-stocking their shelves twice daily, something that normally happens once a day or every other day.
NTUC FairPrice said that sales of rice have increased by 50 per cent since the weekend. Cold Storage reported a 10 to 20 per cent increase in rice sales, and Giant Hypermart has sold 15 per cent more rice.
Sheng Siong, meanwhile, has seen a 30 to 40 per cent increase in sales of its house brand this week.
But yesterday saw even brisker sales of rice. Supermarket staff at the NTUC FairPrice outlet in Ang Mo Kio Hub said they had seen 'quite a lot more' people buying rice than the day before, and 80 per cent of the stocks were gone by the end of the morning.
Over at Toa Payoh Lorong 4, Shop N Save store manager Jonas Quiambao nervously eyed his freshly re-stocked rice shelves at 2.30pm. They were full - for a while at least.
About 80 customers had bought rice since 8am - about twice as many as on an average day, he said.
'We ran out of popular brands such as Royal Umbrella and Golden Pineapple around 11am. Good thing we had rice deliveries today, so it's not too bad,' said Mr Quiambao.
At the FairPrice outlet in the HDB Hub, customers were sighing in dismay at the near-empty shelves at 3pm. By 4.30pm, however, shelves were fully stocked.
Over at the outlet at Junction 8, shelves were two-thirds empty by 2.30pm, but an hour later, staff were carting in fresh stock.
Shoppers who said they normally bought one bag were seen heaving two or more bags into their trolleys.
Some were buying rice in case prices went up even further. Others, like Mrs Joanna Yeoh, were buying extra because they were worried about supplies of their favourite brands running low.
'I can't stop prices from rising, but I can buy more, just in case there's not enough stock,' said the 40-year-old technical executive. She bought a 10kg bag of Song He rice even though she had one full 5kg bag at home.
According to some supermarkets, prices of rice have risen by between 10 per cent and 15 per cent over the last two months, in tandem with rising global rice prices. Analysts say this is due to competition with biofuels, natural disasters, and curbs in exports in places such as Vietnam, India and China.
Most people The Straits Times spoke to were shopping for their own families. But there were a few like one hawker who bought six 10kg bags for his economy rice stall - his usual purchase, he said.
Despite the mad dash, customers remain picky. Much of the rice that was snapped up yesterday was either of the mid-range house brand or premium quality variety. Importers said the price of the latter, which includes the Song He and Royal Umbrella brands, has gone up by about a dollar in the last few weeks.
At the FairPrice outlet in HDB Hub, bags of the cheapest house brand variety, which cost around $4.50 per 5kg bag, were left mostly untouched.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY LIM HENG LIANG
