In fact, prices of several must-haves, like mandarin oranges, have dipped, said suppliers, retailers and manufacturers.
Ban Choon Marketing, which supplies mandarin oranges from China and Taiwan, said the price fell by 10 to 15 per cent.
A box of 46 China lu kam costs between $11 and $12.
Major supermarkets such as Cold Storage, Giant and Sheng Siong said prices of most festive items are comparable to last year's.
Smaller retailers that sell traditional Chinese cookies are also not raising prices.
Said Mr Chan Kim Ho, 66, owner of Poh Guan Cake House: 'The economy is very bad. We want to protect our customer base, so we are absorbing the increase in cost.'
Already, he has seen patrons spending less. 'In the past, they may buy 10 boxes. Now, they will buy only seven.'
Bakery chain Bengawan Solo has also kept prices of its Chinese New Year items steady. Mr Henry Liew, its director of business development, said: 'We want to make sure that people will still buy and not be too concerned about prices.'
To boost sales, he said the company will expand the scale of its annual factory sale by about 10 per cent. You can expect price discounts of 10 to 15 per cent.
But if you crave items like bak kwa (barbecued meat), love letters, pineapple tarts and nian gao (traditional sticky rice cake), the news is not so sweet. Prices have gone up due to higher raw material costs.
At Kim Hock Guan, Singapore's oldest bak kwa chain, a kilogram of the barbecued pork costs $46 during the festive period, compared to $43 on normal days.
Mr Wilfred Lim, 39, one of the partners of the chain, links this to the fact that the cost of raw materials such as oil is still high. 'It may seem that the cost of raw materials has fallen, but we have not felt the impact yet,' he said.
Another major vendor, Lim Chee Guan, has also upped prices from $42 to $46 per kilogram during the festive period.
Bee Cheng Hiang, however, did not increase prices, but its management declined to comment.
Glory Food Products, which makes goodies like pineapple tarts and almond cookies, boosted prices by 3 to 5 per cent, said its managing director Andrew Chin. The cost of butter has gone up by 20 per cent, he explained.
While most retailers said they are optimistic about business during the festive season, those in the seafood delicacy trade are bracing themselves for a tough month because the prices of such items are higher. Mr Mario Chua, chairman of Victoria Street Wholesale Centre Merchants' Association, said tenants have cut imports by about 25 per cent because of the weak consumer sentiment.
Prices of delicacies such as sea cucumber and fish maw have generally held steady. A kilogram of sea cucumber costs between $200 and $400, while the price of fish maw is between $50 and $400 per kilogram.
But abalone is cheaper - the price fell from between $42 and $56 a can last year, to between $38 and $50 this year, depending on the brand.
Mr Chua said: 'Customers are very conservative when they buy. They are also buying much later than in previous years. The situation does not look very optimistic, but we will know the true picture only after Chinese New Year.'
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