• Prices frozen for all 9 types of FairPrice Housebrand rice from Thailand and Vietnam

Amid inflation, NTUC FairPrice (FairPrice) today announced that it will continue to freeze prices on all 9 types FairPrice housebrand rice from Thailand and Vietnam until 31 December 2012. Prices of these FairPrice housebrand rice have been frozen since November 2011. Though the Consumer Price Index (CPI) eased to 5 percent in May 2012 compared to 5.4 percent the previous month, non-cooked food and prepared meals prices rose by 0.2 percent and 0.1 percent respectively.

Explaining FairPrice’s decision to the price freeze, Mr Tng Ah Yiam, Managing Director for Group Purchasing, Merchandising and International Trading for NTUC FairPrice said, “Inflation has remained high over the last year. As rice is a daily staple for most of our customers, we have decided to keep rice prices stable so as to help our customers stretch their dollar as we have done so through the years. It is our social mission to help moderate the cost of living here and we hope this will bring some relief to both our members and our customers. In fact, despite fluctuations in rice prices by as much as 10 percent over the past two years, we have managed to keep our housebrand rice prices constant.”

In November 2011, customers were concerned about rising rice prices due to the flood and governmental legislation in Thailand. FairPrice then took the lead to freeze the prices of its housebrand Thai and Vietnamese rice till end June 2012 to allay consumers’ fears. It has now extended its effort to continue holding prices of its FairPrice housebrand rice from Thailand and Vietnam till end of the year.

As one of the major rice importers in Singapore, FairPrice stockpiles more than three months’ supply of rice to ensure reliability of supply and stability of price. Prices of rice are kept stable due to the policy of stockpiling, diversified sourcing, forward buying, direct importing, bulk buying and contract prices with manufacturers.