Dining out a pricey affair

Survey shows food expenditure a growing cost concern

The cost of eating out in Singapore is likely to continue to rise relative to individual and household incomes in the future, according to an Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) report on food prices here.

The researchers came to this conclusion after collecting data on the costs of food items and meals at hawker centres, kopitiam and foodcourts from September to November 2022, and January to February this year.

They found differences in food prices across regions as well as the two time periods, with notable increases in prices for 13 out of 18 food items in the second period.

It is the second time that the IPS is doing a study on food prices here, to come up with what it has called the Makan Index 2.0. The last study was published in 2017.

The team looked at prices of 18 food and drink items or sets commonly sold at the food establishments across the three daily meals such as kopi-o, wanton noodles, economic beehoon set or chicken chop.

They visited 829 food establishments – 92 hawker centres, 101 foodcourts and 636 kopitiams – across 26 residential neighbourhoods.

The study, led by research fellow Teo Kay Key with research assistants hanniel Lim and Mindy Chong, is aimed at surveying food prices as a way to better understand an aspect of the costs of living in Singapore.

however, it noted that the prices of food items were taken at face value, without adjusting for quantity or quality.

The report pointed out that the five-yearly household expenditure survey by the Department of Statistics found that food constituted 20.3% of a household’s average expenditure in 2017 and 2018, the second largest component after housing and its related expenditure (28.9%).

The survey also showed that of food spending, just over half was spent at hawker centres, food courts and coffee shops as well as similar establishments such as canteens, kiosks and street vendors.

“This is testament to the prevalence of Singapore’s unique hawker culture, which has enabled many Singaporeans to eat out at affordable prices. however, living costs, especially that of food, have become a common concern in many parts of the world,” said the report. It noted recent developments such as the Russia-ukraine war, the mid2022 ban on chicken exports from Malaysia to Singapore, and the increase in goods and services tax here that have impacted food prices.

Comparing the data collected over the two time periods, the researchers found that most stall owners did not increase their prices, while a majority of those who did did so by only a small margin.

The researchers noted that due to manpower and time constraints, they did not revisit all the establishments from the first round of data collection and returned to only 50 of the 829 original sites.

The average increases in prices at these revisited stalls did not exceed 30 cents, and did not go above 10 cents for most food items, they found.

Comparing prices across regions in their overall data, the researchers found differences for nine out of 18 of the food and drinks surveyed.