Rental support a boost for hawkers and market stallholders feeling the pinch from the Middle East crisis

Singapore The government announced that hawkers running cooked food stalls will receive S$1,200 in rental support while market stallholders will get S$600, disbursed over six months. Maxwell Food Centre on Jul 29, 2026. (Photo: CNA/Lim Li Ting) New: You can now listen to articles. This audio is generated by an AI tool. 29 Jul 2026 11:30PM (Updated: 29 Jul 2026 11:37PM) SINGAPORE: With the Middle East crisis pushing hawkers to raise prices or reduce manpower costs, the new rental support measures announced on Wednesday (Jul 29) offer them a slight boost, several hawkers and market stall owners said.CNA spoke to seven such owners across three hawker centres on Wednesday afternoon, who have had to spend more on ingredients and even packaging items since the war in the region broke out in late February.In Mr Cyrus Yap's case, the costs of meat, vegetables, oil and rice have gone up by 10 to 20 per cent.To sustain his business while maintaining his current menu prices, the owner of Style Palate, which serves modern European cuisine at Woodleigh Village Hawker Centre, turned to adjusting his manpower costs instead. He hires part-timers now rather than full-timers and helps out at the stall as well. "I work every day. For almost three months, I have (had) no rest," said Mr Yap. The owner of Style Palate, Cyrus Yap, at Woodleigh Village Hawker Centre on Jul 29, 2026. (Photo: CNA/Lim Li Ting) Hawkers like Mr Yap who run cooked food stalls will receive S$1,200 (US$930) in rental support while market stallholders will get S$600, the government announced on Wednesday. This will be disbursed over six months from September this year to February 2027.The support is for stallholders in hawker centres and markets managed by the government or government-appointed operators, including socially conscious enterprise hawker centres run by private operators appointed by the National Environment Agency (NEA) – such as Woodleigh Village Hawker Centre.The rental relief is expected to benefit 15,200 stalls, comprising 6,900 cooked food stalls and 8,300 market stalls. Stallholders will be informed separately about the eligibility criteria, said Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry Low Yen Ling.The support is meant to help sustain Singapore's hawker culture and to show that the government is a "responsible manager" of hawker centres and markets, she said, adding that the higher support for cooked food stalls reflects the wider range of cost pressures they face, such as energy costs for food preparation."BETTER THAN NOTHING"Like Mr Yap, several other hawkers CNA spoke to have had to manage higher overheads as a result of the Middle East crisis.For Ms Ita, who sells Indian food at Maxwell Food Centre, which is managed and maintained by NEA, the costs of tomatoes and plastic containers are increasing her expenses. Suppliers have asked her to order more of the containers to get a good delivery price, she said.She pays about S$2,620 per month for rent, which includes around S$600 for table cleaning fees.The upcoming rental support of S$1,200 over six months would help, but not that much, said Ms Ita, who only wanted to be known by her first name."It's like a yes but a no … The fact that remains is that it's still not helping much," she said.Ms Li Yan, a second-generation hawker who runs local cuisine stall Straits Authentic at the same hawker centre, echoed this sentiment."We are not first-generation, so our market rate is a bit higher than that. So S$200 (a month) is not much. But still, better than nothing, right?" she said.Her monthly rental cost goes up to about S$2,850, inclusive of the table cleaning fees and other miscellaneous expenses.Due to the ongoing crisis, she has had to fork out an extra S$2 to S$3 in delivery charges for noodles every day."(The suppliers) said because of gas or the fuel going back, they have to charge … It depends on the supplier, but you can't anyhow change the supplier because of the taste (of the food). You can't anyhow change the taste," said Ms Yan. The Straits Authentic hawker stall at Maxwell Food Centre on Jul 29, 2026. (Photo: CNA/Lim Li Ting) Beo Crescent Coffee Powder owner Ben Zhang told CNA that while the costs of coffee beans have been manageable, it was the importing and roasting of beans that have brought expenses up.Even clear plastic bags were more expensive now, he said, adding that he pays S$10 per pack now, up from S$8.Mr Zhang, who will receive S$600 in rental support over six months if eligible, said the amount will have a bigger impact on market stall owners like him compared to hawker stall owners, given the difference in rental costs.He pays a total of S$800 a month for three units at Beo Crescent Market, which is also managed by NEA. Over the longer term from 2015 to 2023, the median monthly rent for non-subsidised cooked food stalls in NEA-managed hawker centres was around S$1,250.For market stalls, NEA said in 2024 that the median assessed market rent for non-subsidised market stalls has remained at about S$320 a month since 2019.TO INCREASE OR NOT TO INCREASEDuring a press conference on Wednesday, Ms Low addressed questions on measures in place to ensure hawkers and market stallholders do not profit from the rental support. She said that the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore under the Ministry of Trade and Industry, and the Consumer Association of Singapore, or CASE, work closely with the merchant and hawker associations. "To share with them, it's important to be transparent about price or any potential price changes to be fair to the consumer," she said. When Mr Zhang raised his coffee powder prices by S$2 per kilogram, he informed his customers ahead of the change. "For us, usually we try to hold on as far as possible. For example, we wanted to adjust since April, but we held on until May. Then in May, we held on until June. Then in June, we had to do it," he said."Sometimes, holding too long is not beneficial to us." The owner of Beo Crescent Coffee Powder, Ken Zhang, on Jul 29, 2026. (Photo: CNA/Lim Li Ting) At the Eng Kee Chicken Wings outlet in Woodleigh Village Hawker Centre, one of the socially conscious enterprise hawker centres managed by Fei Siong social enterprise, owner Nicholas Lim raised the prices of his chicken wings, vegetables and sausages slightly by 10 cents per item in May. "That was the only time we increased ... hopefully to curb everything else," said Mr Lim."All ingredient costs have gone up, mainly because of the delivery costs. That's the main thing that's pushing everything up now. The immediate effect," he added.Speaking to CNA, his aunt Jaslynn Puah, who helps out at the store, said most of their customers were very understanding, going so far as to say the increment of 10 cents was "too little". The Eng Kee Chicken Wings stall at Woodleigh Village Hawker Centre on Jul 29, 2026. (Photo: CNA/Lim Li Ting) Mr Ng Kim Teck, owner of the Ting Seng Ceremonial Services stall in Beo Crescent Market, now charges S$7 per bottle of Chinese prayer oil, up from S$5 per bottle, attributing the increase in price to the energy crisis caused by the Middle East conflict.He told CNA that he was selling the oil at the same price his suppliers charge him for it, with no profit for himself."Even if you add (another) 50 cents, the customers won't want it," he said in Mandarin. Similarly, he had to increase the prices of candles and joss sticks.Business was already "very bad", and if it continues at the same pace, he may be forced to retire and wind down the shop he has run for about three decades.The worry of customers turning away has stopped Ms Ita from raising her food prices. She last increased the price of her mutton briyani in 2024 from S$8 to S$9, which made her lose about 20 to 30 per cent of her clientele, she said."Until now, we never increased. Can you imagine the pinch?" she added. "I'm smart enough because I do islandwide delivery. If I just based (my business) on the customers here, we wouldn't survive."