Supermarket 'offers' bring food for thought

There must be measures to ensure the SAR's two biggest supermarket chains are not faking discounts if they decide to launch such promotions in return for wage subsidies, Hong Kong's biggest pro-Beijing political party said.

The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong tracked the prices of 22 daily items in the two chains since last month. Many of the prices were increased before the launch of so-called discounts, giving people the false impression prices have been reduced.

A five-kilogram pack of rice went for HK$97.90 on August 28 and September 2 at ParknShop. The chain offered a "discount" and reduced the price to HK$95 two days later, but the price was actually the same as on August 26.

A similar situation was found at Wellcome, where a five-packet pack of instant noodles sold for HK$20 on August 28 and September 2. There was a HK$1.50 discount two days later, but the discounted price was the same as on August 26.

The party found the discounted and original prices on the labels of some products were the same, or that the label did not show the product's previous price.

The two supermarkets also often offered the same discounts for the same products, the party added, citing a three-bottle pack of peanut oil and a oyster sauce that were sold for the same price on September 4. Wellcome and Parknshop both sold condensed milk at the same price: HK$28 for two cans.

The party's deputy secretary general Frankie Ngan Man-yu said the government should ensure the two supermarkets offer coupons or reduce prices genuinely if they are getting the second round of wage subsidy.

"We hope the government will ask Wellcome and ParknShop to explain their process for offering price discounts or say how are they going to give back to citizens if they are applying for the [second tranche of] Employment Support Scheme, so people and the government can monitor whether prices have really been reduced," Ngan said.

He also suggested the government refer to regulations in places like Australia and Britain and define 'original price' clearly to avoid customers being misled.

The party also suggested the government allocate more resources to the Competition Commission to strengthen price-fixing supervision for supermarket chains.

"The government should look into the existing ordinances to better protect consumers. Especially, we should learn from Australia and the UK that there should be a definition for 'original price' and that there should be regulations on promotions and discounts," party member Lau Tin-ching said.

That came as overall consumer prices in July fell 2.3 percent year on year, but food prices rose 3.9 percent.

The retail price of rice has increased 9.3 percent, while the price of Thai price has increased from HK$13.05 per kilogram in January to HK$14.38 per kilogram in July. But import prices had dropped from HK$8.67 per kilogram in January to HK$8.29 per kilogram in July.