Rising food prices during pandemic add to burdens of Hong Kong’s poor, with more seeking handouts
- Newly jobless among those turning to charities for help with basic food supplies
- Poor households struggle to cope with higher prices of rice, meat and vegetables
Chau Mee-heung, 84, waits in line with about 100 others every Saturday morning to collect a free boxed meal, of rice with a meat dish and vegetables, handed out by a charity to people struggling with food expenses.
The meals of chicken and choy sum, or spare ribs and broccoli, taste bland, says Chau, who lives alone in Lam Tin, in southeastern Hong Kong. But she is grateful for them and splits each meal into two, to make it last longer.
Rising food prices during the Covid-19 pandemic have strained her monthly government welfare allowance of about HK$3,000.
She says the price of a brand of biscuits she used to buy has risen from HK$12 to more than HK$14, while a bag of eight apples now costs HK$18, whereas she used to pay HK$12. Fresh vegetables at wet markets also cost about HK$4 more per kilogram now, she says.
To make her money stretch, Chau only buys items on special offer. She waits until her favourite biscuits are on sale to buy two and get one free. She gets two frozen chickens at a discounted price of HK$62, instead of paying HK$40 for one bird, HK$10 more than before. She goes to the wet market late in the afternoon, when she can pick up three bags of vegetables for HK$10.
“I always stick to whatever is on sale,” she says. “Rich people can buy whatever they want, but I cannot afford to do that.”
