CNA reported sharp declines in takings at two Singapore hawker stalls during the haze, adding to accounts of lost food business as the country’s environment agency forecast unhealthy air quality for Oct. 21.
Traditional Handmade Mee Hoon Kway worker Yong Tham Foo said the Jurong West stall’s takings fell by as much as 80% over Oct. 17-18. He told CNA that weekday takings were down about 40% on average.
At Eggdicted, stallholder Nguyen Ngoc Thuy Tien told CNA the stall had brought in about S$700 a day since Oct. 13, compared with at least S$1,000 previously. The business depends on customers who visit in person.
Those figures describe two stalls, not Singapore’s food-service industry as a whole. Restaurants interviewed separately by CNA also cited the end of the Formula One Singapore Grand Prix weekend on Oct. 11 as a factor in weaker traffic. The hawker accounts do not establish how much of their decline was caused by the haze. EconoTimes previously covered losses reported by restaurants and street performers during the haze.
In its Oct. 20 advisory, the National Environment Agency (NEA) put Singapore’s 24-hour Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) at 85 to 140 across the country, spanning moderate and unhealthy conditions. It forecast a PSI of 110 to 180, classified as unhealthy, for Oct. 21. The agency said residual smoke from fires in Kalimantan had drifted toward Singapore and that forecast winds could carry more smoke across.
Best Denki told The Business Times that its air-purifier sales volume tripled during Oct. 5-11 compared with previous weeks. That company’s account covers an earlier period than the hawker stalls’ reported losses.
NEA’s next daily air-quality readings will show how conditions compare with its Oct. 21 forecast.
