Local vegetable and seafood production dip in 2023

Energy price hikes and rising manpower costs impacted local production.

The local production of vegetables and seafood, amongst key components of Singapore's agri-food sector, declined in 2023.

Data from the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) showed that local production of vegetables and seafood fell 15% and 8%, respectively.

SFA attributed the decline in local production to delays in farm development during the COVID-19 pandemic, relocation of some farms, business headwinds due to inflationary pressures, increases in energy prices and elevated manpower costs.

On the other hand, hen shell eggs, another integral component of the local agri-food sector, saw a 12% improvement as several farms enhanced their capacity and capabilities to produce more following upgrading plans.

SFA underscored the importance of supporting local farms, saying they need continued demand to scale.

"Supporting local produce can help keep farms commercially viable and strengthen their ability to contribute to Singapore’s food security during disruptions," the SFA said.

Sea-based farms in Singapore fell from 109 in 2022 to 98 in 2023.

To support local farms, SFA launched initiatives such as the Aquatic Animal Health Services to help aquaculture farms better prevent and control diseases.

The SFA also launched its first sea space tender for farming fin fish and crustaceans off Pulau Bukom. The tender closed on 11 April.

Follow the link for more news on

singapore food and fuel supply

Reaching the people who run Asia's businesses is harder than it used to be.

Inboxes are crowded. Attention is short. The executives you most want to reach — the founders, CFOs, and operators who actually move budgets — are the hardest to find through the usual channels. If you're building a company, a category, or a reputation, you already know this.

We've spent twenty years building the room they read. Singapore Business Review is where senior decision makers in Singapore and across Southeast Asia come for business coverage they can't get elsewhere — in print, online, and in person at the summits and roundtables we host across seven markets.

If you have something these readers should know about — a point of view worth publishing, a product worth their attention, an event worth their time — we'd like to hear what you're trying to do.

Book a meeting

| Or download the media kit (PDF)

240,000 senior readers quarterly in print Top 1,700 Singapore companies reached

7 markets across Southeast Asia