Singapore's food hub status at risk amid wave of restaurant closures
Singapore 's well-known food scene has been battered by closures in the past year, affecting low-cost hawker stalls, mid-sized operators and Michelin-star restaurants, who say costs are rising and consumers are spending less.
Advertisement
Closures in the food and drink sector have averaged 307 per month so far this year, up from 254 per month in 2024 and around 230 a month in 2023 and 2022, government data shows.
Alvin Goh, a co-founder of Wine RVLT, is set to add to the statistics later this year.
He said he will not renew his lease when it runs out in August after almost a decade serving natural wines and bar bites in the wealthy Asian financial hub of 6 million people.
'We've been in the red since 2023 June. We've been topping up money to ensure that rent, salaries and suppliers are being paid,' he said.
Advertisement
Like other operators, Goh has been hit by rising costs for goods, utilities, rent and salaries. He has fewer patrons and those who do dine and wine are spending less than during what Goh called the 2022 'euphoria of opening up' following the Covid-19 pandemic.
The ratio of closures to openings in 2025 and 2024 was higher than before and during the pandemic, pointing to a shrinking sector.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Asia Times
16 hours ago
- Asia Times
Asia's shaky economies need a US-China trade truce, fast
As Asian governments go through the motions of negotiating with the US, Donald Trump's trade war is inflicting serious and ever-increasing damage on the region's largest economies. It remains to be seen what the US and China will ultimately agreed on in London this week. Vague talk of a preliminary strategy to ease trade tensions, with zero specifics or timelines, has so far left global markets with more questions than answers. The final readout said the two sides agreed in principle on a framework for de-escalating trade tensions, which will next be presented to Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping for approval, according to reports. In the meantime, Japan and South Korea, Asia's No 2 and No 4 economies, are officially in negative territory, both down 0.2% in the first quarter on an annualized basis. What's important to consider is that these contractions predate the worst of Trump's tariffs. As the full brunt of those import taxes hits, Japan and Korea are sure to slide deeper into the red. Those levies include 30% on China, down from 145% earlier, 25% on autos, 50% on steel and aluminum and 10% across the board globally. Things could quickly get worse from there if China's factory gate deflation deepens. In May, China's producer prices fell to the lowest level in nearly two years. Consumer prices, meanwhile, extended declines as trade headwinds collide with a prolonged housing downturn. The 3.3% year-on-year drop in the May producer price index was even steeper than the 2.7% decline in April — and the deepest contraction in 22 months. China, says economist Zhiwei Zhang at Pinpoint Asset Management, 'continues to face persistent deflationary pressure.' Given the magnitude of the headwinds, says Johns Hopkins University economist Steve Hanke, it's 'no surprise' why this is the fourth-straight month in which China's consumer price trajectory 'has been gripped with an outright deflation.' The collateral damage from Trump's trade war is rising, in part because no one knows where the tariffs are headed. On China, it's still an open question whether Trump will lower Chinese taxes to 10% or raise them to 100%. For Japan and Korea, only Trump can say whether or not reciprocal tariffs of 24% and 25%, respectively, will soon return. Risks abound as neither Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba nor new South Korean President Lee Jae-myung seems in any hurry to sign a bilateral trade pact with the US that might disadvantage their populations. That risks enraging a Trump White House desperate for any deal at all. Declarations by Trump trade Peter Navarro and Howard Lutnick have aged terribly. Trade advisor Navarro earlier assured that Trump would seal 90 deals in 90 days. Commerce Secretary Lutnick's late April statement that Trump already had 200 agreements nailed down is now a punchline. As Trump becomes more desperate for a win, real or imagined, the odds of him making tariffs great again increase. Especially since Chinese leader Xi Jinping hasn't rolled out lots of concessions, as Trump hoped. Optimism that Xi's government might increase the flow of now-restricted rare-earth minerals hasn't come to fruition. On Sunday, Kevin Hassett, Trump's National Economic Council head, told CBS News: 'We want the rare earths, the magnets that are crucial for cell phones and everything else to flow just as they did before the beginning of April, and we don't want any technical details slowing that down. And that's clear to them.' Yet what Xi has in common with Ishiba and Lee is a belief that time is on his side. The longer Trump's tariffs fan US inflation and cause economic disruption at home, the more he needs big splashy trade deals to justify the pain households are enduring in the name of making America great again. It follows, then, that Trump will become more willing to sign trade deals in name only to save face. That's the strategy China and Japan employed during the Trump 1.0 era to great effect. And it might well work again under Trump 2.0. The best hope for the global economy and financial system is Trump throttling back on tariffs in the months ahead. 'If this problem goes away, I think that the second half of this year will actually be one of growth,' says Indermit Gill, the World Bank's chief economist. The World Bank has a rather bleak view of the rest of 2025. It expects the slowest growth in 17 years, outside of recessionary periods. It sees global growth weakening to 2.3% this year, 0.4 percentage points less than it expected a few months back. Trouble in bigger economies is sure to spill over into smaller, less developed ones, given today's 'tight trade and investment linkages' with the US, Europe and China, the World Bank said in a report. The good news is that 'capital flows to emerging markets stabilized in May, breaking a two-month pattern of volatility and retrenchment,' says Jonathan Fortun, an economist at the Institute of International Finance. Non-resident flows rose to US$19.2 billion, marking a decisive shift from the $3.7 billion net outflow recorded in April. 'The rebound,' Fortun says, 'was broad-based, with both equity and debt components contributing positively. However, the recovery masks significant asymmetries across regions and asset classes, and the underlying investor tone remains cautious in light of ongoing global uncertainty.' Fortun adds that emerging Asia was the main beneficiary in May, attracting $11.4 billion across asset classes. 'The bulk of the inflows came through local debt and equity channels, as investors responded to stabilizing inflation prints and more predictable policy stances,' he says. In contrast, Fortun adds, Latin America recorded a modest 1.1 billion in net inflows, with strong equity demand partially offset by a sharp decline in debt flows. Emerging Europe attracted $5.1 billion, 'supported by resilient demand for domestic bonds in countries with improved fiscal outlooks,' he notes. In Japan's case, says economist Takeshi Yamaguchi at Morgan Stanley MUFG, markets are waiting with bated breath for the Bank of Japan's views on downside risks. BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda, after all, is grappling with the impact of Trump's 25% automobile tariff by the US on small and midsize enterprises and spring wage negotiations amid prolonged US-Japan trade discussions. Yamaguchi says BOJ officials are also watching the impact of China's rare-earth export regulations on manufacturing activity, including automobile production. Other factors include the impact of US lawmakers giving Trump latitude to tax foreign investors, including potentially for punitive purposes on US Treasury holders. 'All underlying inflation measures of the BOJ have risen further' in the central bank's latest update, Yamaguchi says. Stefan Angrick, head of Japan at Moody's Analytics, notes that 'tariffs and tariff threats are damaging [Japan's] exports and industrial production. Household spending is weak as inflation outpaces wage growth, and pay gains may slow further if tariff pain derails the economy.' At the same time, Angrick says, slowing inflation will 'help home-made demand find better traction, but reduced government support for energy bills and a surge in food prices mean inflation will decelerate very gradually.' This will push real pay gains further into the distance, raising the stakes ahead of the upper house election in July, Angrick adds. Opposition parties have called for consumption tax cuts to ease the cost-of-living crisis. 'We're not convinced that's the best way forward,' Angrick says. But Prime Minister Shigeru's blanket rejection of all forms of fiscal support was already looking shaky before the trade war ramped up. All told, the outlook for 2025 looks extremely challenging.' In Seoul, the arrival of President Lee's new administration 'will reduce political tensions and improve the country's economic outlook,' following the six-month vacuum caused by Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment, says Jeremy Chan, a Eurasia Group analyst. 'Lee will immediately confront two major challenges: reviving economic growth and striking a trade deal with the US to reduce crippling US tariffs on Korean exports,' Chan says. China's trajectory is complicated by a serious property crisis that's helping to drive deflation. The danger is that the trade war precipitates 'a race deeper into deflation,' says Tom Orlik, chief economist for Bloomberg Economics. Zichun Huang, China economist at Capital Economics, adds that 'we still think persistent overcapacity will keep China in deflation both this year and next.' There's still hope Trump might pivot away from tariffs. Headlines about several trillions of dollars of stock market losses, talk of a 'Trumpcession' and chatter that the so-called 'bond vigilantes' were displeased had Trump backing off. The same with China's stance going into the weekend trade talks in Geneva in mid-May, where Team Xi demanded a goodwill gesture on tariffs; Trump ultimately obliged by throttling back on import taxes from 145% to 30%. Asian 'economies now face the secondary shock of an influx of cheap Chinese imports, as China exports excess capacity amid subdued domestic demand and elevated trade tensions with the US and other developed markets,' says Alex Wolf, head of Asia investment strategy at JP Morgan Private Bank. 'This phenomenon is already negatively impacting local emerging market manufacturing and employment.' Wolf adds that 'as the Trump administration targets not just China but almost every trading partner with trade imbalances – whether due to trade deficits or tariff rate differentials – many EM [emerging market] economies could end up in the crosshairs. With both the direct impact of US tariffs and the indirect impact of a slowing China and weaker global trade, EM economies may face tougher challenges ahead.' Yet the detour in Trump's phraseology thickens the plot. Around 'Liberation Day' on April 2, Trump World argued the US is being 'looted, pillaged, raped and plundered by nations near and far.' Since then, Trump's White House has also talked of the 'importance of a sustainable, long-term and mutually beneficial economic and trade relationship.' All officials in Tokyo and Seoul can do is hope real progress was made behind closed doors in London this week. In the interim, though, Asia's 2025 is turning out monumentally different from what Asia expected. Follow William Pesek on X at @WilliamPesek
RTHK
20 hours ago
- RTHK
Qantas shuts budget subsidiary Jetstar Asia
Qantas shuts budget subsidiary Jetstar Asia Around 500 Jetstar Asia workers in Singapore will lose their jobs as a result of the closure. File photo: AFP Australian airline Qantas said on Wednesday it will close its loss-making budget carrier Jetstar Asia, axing 500 Singapore-based jobs. The low-cost subsidiary will cease operations on July 31 as part of a "strategic restructure", Qantas group chief executive Vanessa Hudson said. Qantas is "incredibly proud" of the Jetstar Asia team, Hudson said. "This is a very tough day for them. "Despite their best efforts, we have seen some of Jetstar Asia's supplier costs increase by up to 200 percent, which has materially changed its cost base." Passengers with cancelled flights on the Singapore-based regional carrier – which flies to 16 Asian destinations – will be offered refunds, Qantas said. Jetstar Asia was expected to make an underlying loss of A$35 million (US$22.8 million) this financial year prior to the closure, according to Qantas, which owns 49 percent of the carrier. Its 500 staff will be laid off and receive redundancy benefits as well as help finding new jobs, the Australian group said. Jetstar Asia's 13 A320 aircraft will be progressively redeployed to Australia and New Zealand, Qantas said, creating more than 100 local jobs. Shutting the carrier would deliver up to A$500 million (US$325 million) for Qantas to support the group's fleet renewal program. Qantas said the decision to shutter Jetstar Asia was taken together with the offshoot's 51-percent shareholder, Westbrook Investments. (AFP)
RTHK
3 days ago
- RTHK
Sino-US talks hope fuels strong rise for HK stocks
Sino-US talks hope fuels strong rise for HK stocks The Hang Seng Index finished strongly up 388.89 points, or 1.63 percent, for the day at 24,181.43. File photo: RTHK Asian stocks rallied on Monday on hopes that a fresh round of China-US trade talks later in the day will ease tensions between the economic superpowers, while investors were also cheered by forecast-topping US jobs data. In Hong Kong, the benchmark Hang Seng Index ended strongly up 388.89 points, or 1.63 percent, for the day at 24,181.43. Across the border, Chinese stocks closed higher, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index up 0.43 percent to 3,399.77. The Shenzhen Component Index closed 0.65 percent higher at 10,250. The ChiNext Index, tracking China's Nasdaq-style board of growth enterprises, gained 1.07 percent to close at 2,061.29. Regional gains extended a run-up across global markets in recent weeks as fears about US President Donald Trump's tariff blitz subside and countries make deals with Washington. All eyes are on London, where top officials from China and the United States are due to meet for more negotiations aimed at preserving a fragile truce agreed last month that slashed eye-watering tit-for-tat levies. The talks come days after President Xi Jinping and Trump held their first publicly announced telephone talks since the Republican returned to the White House. They were helped by news that Beijing had on Saturday approved some applications for rare-earth exports, while aviation giant Boeing will start sending commercial jets to China for the first time since April. The impact of the trade row was highlighted on Monday in data showing Chinese exports to the United States sank more than 34 percent year on year in May and almost 13 percent from the previous month. However, shipments to other regions including the European Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations surged. Separate data showed Chinese consumer prices fell in May for the fourth straight month. Optimism that the two sides will make a breakthrough boosted other markets such as Tokyo, Seoul, Singapore, Mumbai, Bangkok and Manila also advanced. In Japan, the Nikkei share average advanced ahead of Sino-US trade talks in London later in the day, with investors watching for any easing of restrictions on semiconductor shipments. The Nikkei rose 0.92 percent to 38,088.57 at the close. The broader Topix rose 0.58 percent. A sub-index of growth shares rallied 0.79 percent, outpacing a 0.38 percent rise in value shares. Chip-testing equipment maker and Nvidia supplier Advantest was the Nikkei's biggest gainer in index-point terms with a 4.86 percent climb. Another chip company, Socionext, soared 7.34 percent to be the top performer in percentage terms. (Reuters/Xinhua)
