The 66-year-old, who runs a Taiwan porridge stall with her husband at the Old Airport Road hawker centre, upped the price of 10 of 30 dishes on their menu - including the popular bean sprouts fried with salted fish - by 50 cents.

She said: 'We prefer not to increase our prices, but this time round, we couldn't afford not to.'

Going by a survey by the Department of Statistics, she is in the minority, the one quarter of hawkers who have jacked up their prices as a result of higher food, fuel and labour costs. The remaining three quarters have held their prices steady since last June.

Minister of State for Trade & Industry Lee Yi Shyan, praising the majority for doing so, said that by not passing on the extra costs to their customers, they have done their bit to moderate the pace of price increases.

He noted that, despite Singapore's having to import most of its food, prices have also been kept steady through a number of measures.

Firstly, the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore has diversified food sources so the country is less at the mercy of supply or other problems from any one source.

Secondly, the open competition in the business environment means customers can go elsewhere if they find the prices unreasonable.

Madam Chen put it simply: 'We'd rather lose profits than lose customers.'

But while prices may be held steady, hawkers can - and do - give smaller portions to cope with increased costs.

Read the full report in Monday's edition of The Straits Times.