SINGAPORE – Customers at three Giant supermarkets can now buy locally grown live seafood, including tilapia, sea bass, grouper and vannamei prawns.
Amid a push to promote local products, live seafood will be sold from Aug 19 at Giant Tampines Hypermarket, as well as the Giant stores in IMM and Tengah Plantation Plaza.
Consumers can buy tilapia under The Straits Fish brand at $7.90 each and vannamei prawns at $32.90 per kg.
Home-grown vegetables like xiao bai cai and lettuce will also be sold in the three supermarkets as part of the same initiative by the Singapore Agro-Food Enterprises Federation (Safef), which has, along with other organisations, taken on the role of demand and supply aggregator for vegetable and fish products.
Safef is also selling local vegetables under the SG Farmers’ Market brand at 38 Cold Storage and Giant stores.
Speaking at the launch of the Safef initiative at Giant Tampines Hypermarket on Aug 19, Minister of State for Culture, Community and Youth Baey Yam Keng acknowledged the challenges local farms face but stressed the importance of producing food locally to strengthen food resilience.
“With more options of local produce now available across the various supermarkets, we can do more to support our local farms by choosing to purchase local food products in Singapore,” he said.
“Because they are straight from the farms to the supermarkets, they are fresher, they can last longer and also incur less transport miles to reach the shelves, so that is also good for the environment with lower emissions,” said Mr Baey, who is an MP for Tampines GRC.
With the launch, the SG Farmers’ Market brand is now available at all major retailers in Singapore, said Safef chief executive Ken Cheong.
Cold Storage Singapore, which runs Cold Storage and Giant outlets here, said that sourcing food locally reduces reliance on imports and protects against supply interruptions while ensuring fresher food for consumers.
The launch comes amid efforts by retail markets here to support local farms and produce.
During the weekend of Aug 2 and 3, FairPrice Group launched a Made in Singapore Farmers Market, where more than 60 locally farmed products – including fresh vegetables, eggs and fish – were sold at the FairPrice Xtra outlet at the Jem shopping mall in Jurong East.
The local farming sector has been gripped by closures and falling output, with the 2024 Singapore Food Statistics report showing that production of vegetables and seafood is declining, while egg production has been on an upward trend.
Farmers have said that the lack of offtake, or the ability to sell produce to consumers, is a challenge.
Singapore is aiming to produce 30 per cent of its nutritional needs locally by 2030.
Some customers whom The Straits Times spoke to said that while local products can be more expensive than imported ones, the local offerings are fresher and can be stored for longer.
Ms Cindy Chang, 34, said the freshness of the local produce is worth the higher cost.
“It’s more expensive but usually it can last for quite long in the fridge, so I feel that in terms of quality, it evens out,” said the civil servant, who cooks three to four times a week.
“We don’t really worry too much about having to quickly finish it.”
Other customers, such as Ms Fancy Ho, 66, who is retired, are open to buying local seafood but have some concerns about the price tag as well as the taste and variety of seafood.
Since fresh prawns are more expensive than the imported ones, she said she gets the pricier prawns only when the occasion calls for it.