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As energy prices are expected to increase, food prices are also anticipated to rise further in the coming months, said Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong on Nov. 3.

Gan was responding to a question posed by Member of Parliament Shawn Huang Wei Zhong, who asked if supply chain disruption and increases in energy costs will have any impact to food prices in the next six months.

Rise in food prices

Gan explained that the food prices are affected by "a combination of factors", including imported prices, energy costs, freight, labour, and seasonal weather changes.

In the past six months, domestic food prices have been on the rise.

This is mainly due to increased prices for global food commodities, higher energy prices, supply chain bottlenecks and labour shortages, Gan said.

In his reply, Gan said that energy prices are "a contributor to the global cost of food".

As food prices rise further with rising cost of energy, "suppliers may need to adjust prices to reflect cost increases".

Assistance for Singapore families

Gan said that assistance will be provided to Singapore families to "mitigate the impact of higher food prices on families".

He said that the Ministry of Social and Family Development’s Social Service Offices (SSOs) will provide ComCare assistance to low-income households to support their daily living expenses.

"The Budget 2020 Grocery Vouchers Scheme has also helped less well-off Singaporeans with their household expenses during this period of economic uncertainty."

In September, about 160,000 Singapore received S$100 worth of grocery vouchers as part of the Care and Support Package.

Meanwhile, Singapore will "continue to diversify our import sources to keep prices competitive and enhance supply resilience," Gan said.

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Top image by Flickr/Mark Guardiani.