Supply of food and fuel adequate, gov’t assures amidst Ukraine-Russia conflict

The government said it is diversifying SG’s import sources.

Second Minister for Trade and Industry, Tan See Leng, assured the public that Singapore has enough supply of key commodities such as food and fuel.

In a statement, Leng said its supply of essential food products has not been significantly affected by the Ukraine-Russia conflict.

Whilst the food stockpile was not affected by the ongoing conflict, Leng said the government will still work on diversifying Singapore's import sources to ensure that the country has continued access to basic food necessities.

Meanwhile, Leng said the government has also implemented measures to ensure that Singapore will have adequate fuel supplies, including petroleum.

However, prices of goods and services are still on the rise as businesses continue to face cost pressures, according to Leng.

To mitigate some of the cost pressures felt by households, Leng said the government has also put in place initiatives, through NTUC FairPrice, to provide a 5% discount on 100 key essential items every Friday including rice, oil, eggs, milk, and vegetables.

The government is also keeping a close watch on the movements in pump prices through the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS).

“As of end-March 2022, crude oil prices were about 40% higher than in January 2022, while the price of petrol and diesel were, on average, about 15% and 30% higher respectively. We have no evidence to suggest that there is collusion among the petrol retailers,” Leng said.

To help give consumers alternative options, the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) also developed the Price Kaki application and the Fuel Kaki website which they can use to compare the effective prices of groceries, hawker food items, and retail pump prices across different retailers.

“We will work closely with our industry partners to diversify our supply chains, investigate anti-competitive behaviour, encourage price transparency, and enable free-market competition to function as it should,” Leng said.