Lim Kok Thai
Chief Executive Officer
Singapore Food Agency
The Singapore Fruits & Vegetables Importers & Exporters Association (SFVIEA) plays a significant role in ensuring a well-diversified and steady supply of fruits and vegetables in Singapore.
As a small city-state with limited resources, we import more than 90 per cent of our food. The diversification of our food supply is critical in reducing our reliance on any single import source so that we can enhance our food supply resilience. It also allows us to activate alternative sources quickly during sudden supply disruptions.
In 2021, Singapore imported more than 977,000 tonnes of fruits and vegetables. This is a commendable achievement by our importers, despite challenges to global supply chains such as the COVID-19 pandemic as well as other geopolitical events such as the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The close partnership between SFVIEA and SFA ensured that supply lines and distribution channels remained open and operational which limited the impact of disruptions to Singapore’s food supply.
The Pasir Panjang Wholesale Centre (PPWC), which is the main wholesale and distribution centre for local and imported fruits and vegetables, handles over 40 per cent of Singapore’s fruits and vegetables imports. When the PPWC had to be temporarily closed in 2021 due to the detection of COVID-19 clusters, SFA worked closely and swiftly with SFVIEA and the PPWC merchants to minimise the impact of the closure on operations and disruptions in our food supply.
SFA looks forward to SFVIEA’s continued support and partnership in ensuring Singapore’s food security. I congratulate the new SFVIEA executive committee in taking office and I wish SFVIEA every success in the coming years.