The analysts’ positive outlook also comes as food inflation continued to climb in January. Food prices in Singapore rose by 8.1% y-o-y during the month, which is the highest level recorded since August 2008. The higher prices were driven by rising food ingredient prices and wage increases, the analysts note.
CGS-CIMB analysts Kenneth Tan and Ong Khang Chuen are keeping their “overweight” call on Singapore’s food and beverage (F&B) sector as they see restaurant sales recovering “meaningfully”.
The analysts see a continued recovery in restaurants based on January’s data from the Singapore Department of Statistics (Singstat) that showed total F&B sales rising 20% y-o-y during the month. Both sales in restaurants and cafes and food courts rose by 19% y-o-y and 13% y-o-y respectively.
