Food & beverage businesses to increase prices by 3-5pct

2013-4-5

From:Macau Daily Times

Food & beverage (F&B) businesses are estimated to increase prices by 3-5% this year due to the RMB appreciation. However, prices of general merchandise are not discernably affected, according to Macau Daily News. Most food in Macau is imported, of which more than 50% is from mainland China. Over the past two weeks the RMB exchange rate has shown an upward trend, which will put pressure on commodity prices.
Some businessmen in the F&B industry indicated that the recent exchange rate fluctuations are not having a big impact on the  import cost of goods. However, some businesses are being affected by the rising costs of logistics, human resources and rent, and because of this the prices of products and services the F&B industry are expected to rise by 3-5%.
As ingredient and product suppliers can hold stock for a period of up to three months, the influence on prices from the recent exchange rate rise will not be immediately reflected but will progressively start to appear after one month.
Meanwhile, some supermarket operators have revealed that the 1-2% exchange rate rise has had little impact upon retail. It is expected that retail prices will only need to be increased if the exchange rate rises by 5%. Additionally, the prices of other general merchandise should remain stable, except for an increase in vegetable prices due to the wet weather in the first quarter of the year.

Copyright@Macau Daily Times