By Poyi (Natalie) Leung
The average retail prices of many food products are expected to remain high in the coming month, retailers at a Macau fresh food market said yesterday.
The appreciation of the yuan in the past two months has lifted the price of vegetables, fruits and dried sea products by up to three per cent.
Meanwhile, a short supply of pigs from the mainland has brought the price of fresh pork to 23 patacas per kilogram in the past week – an increase of two patacas, according to the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau (IACM).
A vegetable stall keeper at the Complexo Municipal do Mercado de S. Domingos, Ms Ng, said the import prices of choy sum, brocolli, lettuce and bak choy had increased by at least two to three per cent.
“We used to sell these vegetables at an average of 2.3 patacas per kilogram. Now, we’re looking at 3.5 patacas,” she added. “We bought the bak choy at 7 patacas from the wholesalers.”
Ms Ng said that due to the rise in value of the yuan, delivery costs also contributed to the soaring price of mainland imports.
“Sometimes people like to go to Gongbei instead to buy vegetables and groceries because they’re cheaper there.
“Like today I’ve got so much left over. Business isn’t as good as before,” Ms Ng said.
Sea products such as dried scallops and dried oysters, as well as dried mushrooms, have also gone up in price.
A dried seafood stall owner, Mr Kwan, told Macau Daily Times:
“The appreciation of the yuan has led to an increase in food prices as a whole. The import price of our dried food has also been affected. We generally have to pay 10 per cent more than we usually did before.
“We have no choice. We can only keep putting up the retail prices if the appreciation of the yuan continues.”
The rise in mainland tourists’ purchasing power has apparently had little impact on the profits of jewellery retailers.
A local division managerof Chow Sang Sang Jewellery Ltd, Mr Ho, said:
“The mainland tourists do tend to be a bit more generous in making a purchase. But we do not make a big profit out of them because the appreciation of the yuan did not come massively in one go.”
The recent restrictions in granting an Individual Visit Scheme in mainland had also diminished the advantages the appreciation could bring to the luxury goods industry, Mr Ho said.
He said gold bangles, necklaces and rings are the most popular items in the mainland tourists’ shopping list. And those who were more into fashion, would instead buy diamonds.
