Feb 22, 2008
Soya prices soar as shortage hits
home
Prices double to $1,200 a tonne; cost of items such as tofu likely
to go up
By Jessica Lim
A WORLDWIDE shortage of soya beans has hit Singapore hard:
Importers say prices have doubled, and the cost of items such as
tofu could go up soon.
Though rising food prices have affected several items, soya beans
are the worst hit - from $600 a tonne a year ago, prices are now at
about $1,200.
That spells bad news for a group already hit by rising prices: the
less well-off.
Soya products such as tofu are a staple food for them, said Ms Anna
Jacob, a nutritionist at private nutrition consultancy firm
NutriVentures.
She explained: 'Soya beans are cheap, a good substitute for meat
and protein-rich.'
Already, prices of soya bean products have risen in the past few
months - at some places, a cup of soya bean milk costs 20 cents
more. But more increases could follow.
The price hikes are down to a lack of supply from big producers
such as the United States.
Farmers there are opting to plant maize and wheat - which are
fetching sky-high prices because of an increased demand for
bio-fuels - instead of soya beans.
Higher demand from China has also contributed to the increase in
prices.
The effects have hit most Asian countries, because soya products
are widely consumed there in various forms.
In Indonesia, for example, thousands of tempeh (fermented beancurd)
and tofu manufacturers and vendors went on strike last month to
protest against the rising prices.
And just this month, Japan initiated a fresh round of price hikes
on soya products.
Soya beans are big in Singapore too, and importers last year
brought in 18,974 tonnes of the stuff, which was eventually turned
into products such as taupok (fried beancurd), soya sauce and
tofu.
The larger manufacturers of soya bean products said they are
struggling to maintain profits, and will be negotiating among
themselves on a price increase soon.
Industry insiders said this could mean a 12 per cent rise in the
prices of packaged soya bean products in the next few weeks.
Major tofu producer Unicurd, which supplies about 60 per cent of
the packed tofu in Singapore, said it has seen profit margins fall
by about 30 per cent since last year.
Said its general manager, Mr Allan Tan: 'Tofu is a cheap
alternative for meat and just as protein-rich. It's a poor man's
food so we try our best to keep prices unchanged.'
Tai Hua Food Industries, which produces about 5,000 tonnes of soya
sauce a year, has increased prices of the soya sauce it exports -
about 35 per cent of what it produces - but has kept prices of
products sold here unchanged.
Both producers said they cannot keep prices down for much
longer.
Previous price rises have already hit buyers and sellers.
At Tekka Market, tofu seller Ng Boon Hwee said he tagged another
five to 10 cents to the price of each piece of tofu sold - an
increase of 20 per cent per piece - last month.
When The Straits Times spoke to him, the 55-year-old shook his
head, pointed at his stock of 150 pieces of tofu, and said he had
raised prices only three times in the past 30 years.
He added that he had never seen costs so high. In fact, he said, he
had to buy fewer pieces to stock his shelves because tofu is so
expensive now.
A Straits Times check of eight other shops - from those in wet
markets to beancurd outlets such as House of Yummy Beancurd - show
that all have raised their prices by 12.5 per cent to 25 per cent
over the past two months.
Beancurd chain Selegie Soyabean started charging 20cents more for a
soya bean milk drink at the start of this month.
Owner Andrew Koh, 45, said a few customers 'showed black faces',
but became more understanding after he explained the
situation.
The bad news is that it does not look like the situation will ease
any time soon.
A spokesman for Canadec, the major soya bean importer here, said
the situation will not get better 'for the next two or three
years'.
He said: 'This is because demand for crops like wheat and maize is
still high, so acreage for soya beans is limited.'
source: http://www.straitstimes.com/Free/Story/STIStory_209083.html