IMPORTED RICE AND LOCALLY-MILLED WHEAT FLOUR (Comparative prices and rates of consumption)

The following Question stood in the name of Mr Ho See Beng -

12.To ask the Minister for Finance if he will make a statement on the comparative prices per ton of imported rice and locally-milled wheat flour; what are the respective tonnages of these two staple foodstuffs consumed or estimated to be consumed per month by the people of Singapore; and what will be the estimated annual saving in foreign exchange by the increase of, say, four thousand tons in the consumption of wheat per month.

Mr Speaker: Mr Ho See Beng.

Mr S. V. Lingam (Aljunied): Question No. 12.

Dr Goh Keng Swee: The price of Siamese white rice 100 per cent is 49 cents per katty retail, whereas locally-milled wheat flour of excellent quality sells for only 25 cents per katty. Wheat flour, therefore, costs only half as much as rice.

Singapore consumes in an average month about 12,000 tons of rice and 4,000 tons of wheat flour. If we can persuade our population to eat more wheat than rice, as the Deputy Prime Minister has been doing for some time, there will be a substantial saving of foreign exchange. Assuming that the people of Singapore can increase their consumption of wheat by another 4,000 tons, we will save $1.8 million a month or $22 million a year at present prices of wheat and rice. Further, since wheat is milled into flour in Singapore, we will also be giving more income and employment to our citizens.

Mr Lim Guan Hoo (Bukit Merah): (In Mandarin): The Minister for Finance has made a comparison of the prices of rice and wheat. I would like to ask whether the Government has taken any steps to prevent the rise in the prices of wheat and wheat products.

Dr Goh Keng Swee: I have already explained that where we reduce imports of goods either by import duties, or in in the case of flour, I think, by quota restrictions, the manufacturers of the local products - in this case, the millers of wheat flour - will have to discuss with Government any changes in the price of their products before they put that into effect. In other words, the opportunities of millers of wheat to increase their prices are very limited unless they have a reasonable case, such as an increase in the international price of wheat.