FairPrice limits purchases of paper products, rice, instant noodles and vegetables

SINGAPORE - Supermarket chain FairPrice on Sunday (Feb 9) said it will be limiting the number of essential items that customers can buy, to ensure that more people have access to these items even as shelves continue to be re-stocked.

Each customer will be allowed to buy only up to four packs of paper products such as toilet paper and tissue paper, two bags of rice and four pillow packets of instant noodles. Each person can also buy up to $50 worth of vegetables.

Customers were informed about these limits via a notice posted at FairPrice outlets.

In the notice, customers were assured that the supply of daily essentials remain available despite the surge in demand, and that the supermarket chain was stepping up delivery runs between its warehouse and outlets.

"We urge customers to buy only what they need and not to stockpile," read the notice.

This comes after people were seen bulk-buying essentials such as rice and toilet paper over the weekend, after the authorities on Friday evening (Feb 7) said Singapore will be ramping up its disease outbreak response.

ALSO READ: Coronavirus: FairPrice chief urges calm amid panic-buying of groceries; Singapore's food security unlikely to be affected

The Disease Outbreak Response System Condition (Dorscon) was moved up a notch to orange status, after a number of patients were found to be infected with the coronavirus originating in Wuhan, despite having no known links to previous cases or travel history to China. Dorscon orange means the outbreak is deemed to have moderate to high public health impact but is still under control.

When The Straits Times visited the FairPrice outlet at Whampoa on Sunday, rice, toilet paper and instant noodles were still available on the shelves.

However, a staff member said that these items had to be restocked almost once every hour during the weekend. Previously, they only had to be replenished twice a day.

Other grocery stores have reported brisk sales.

Ms Lim Kwee Lun, sales manager at Good Luck Supermarket at Block 503, Jurong West Street 52, said most of the shop's bags of rice were sold out by 9.30am on Sunday morning, and that its stock of some dried goods were running low.

For the latest updates on the Wuhan virus, visit here.

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.