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Sellers forced to dump pricey China veggies
Thu, Feb 28, 2008 The Straits Times
FOR five mornings last week, vegetable seller Lai Tan Hock, 38, bundled 10kg of fresh leafy greens in newspaper, loaded them onto a cart, then dumped them into a rubbish truck stationed outside Tekka Market. In all, he dumped about $300 worth of vegetables from China. He was among many wet market stallholders who had to get rid of vegetables imported from China last week. A Straits Times check showed that at least 12 vegetable sellers at two wet markets in Singapore did this.

In some cases, vegetables like cai xin more than doubled in price. Mr Lai, for instance, was charging $5.50 per kg of cai xin, up from the usual $2.50.

Other vegetables affected by the crimp on supplies included kai lan, which doubled in price from $3 per kg to $6, and cauliflower, up 50 per cent from $20 a kg to about $30.

Said Mr Lai, who gets about 30 per cent of his supplies from China: 'Prices of vegetables from China went up so high that customers didn't buy. Vegetables get rotten fast, so we had to throw.'

The severe weather in China affected a tenth of the country's farmland, and about 10 per cent of the stricken acreage may see a complete loss of crops and vegetables.

According to an analysis by Credit Suisse on the outlook for China this year, the weather woes will have a 'significant impact on food supplies'.

In Singapore, vegetable sellers, afraid of being burnt again by the high prices of China produce, are turning away from the country.

Instead, they will import more from Malaysia, which is a cheaper supplier: prices are 30 per cent lower, on average.

Malaysia already supplies 46 per cent, or about 175,000 tonnes, of the fresh vegetable imports into Singapore.

But customers have been demanding more and more China vegetables because they look and taste different.

Chinese varieties of kai lan and cai xin, for example, taste better because the country's cooler weather has an impact on taste, said Mr Tan Chin Hian, managing director of Ban Choon Marketing, which supplies vegetables to about 20 wet markets in Singapore.

But Mr Tan added that consumers would not mind the taste difference if they can save some money.

'Many retailers at wet markets would switch to Malaysian products because their customers tend to put price above quality and will be sensitive to even the slightest price increases.'

In fact, several importers say they will give China vegetables a miss even after supplies stabilise, as is expected once warmer weather returns.

Said Mr Tan Swee Heng, 51, a vegetable wholesaler for the past 30 years: 'These few days, prices of vegetables from Malaysia are still very good. I will just go for the cheaper supplier.'

Singapore imported about 28 per cent - or 104,713 tonnes - of its fresh vegetables from China last year.

JESSICA LIM