I went to FHA with one particular agenda in mind. This current standoff (war/conflict/geopolitical uncertainty/situation, pick your euphemism) has made life pretty tough for anyone who depends on food. For the food industry, concerns continue to be around wrecked supply chains, rerouted shipping lanes, through-the-roof diesel and freight costs. I expected fire and fury, strong opinions freely expressed. I was wrong.

But that’s not to say this wasn’t clearly on everyone's mind. It’s just that nobody wanted to say it out loud. People deftly sidestepped my questions about the war thing, and I found that as interesting as any opinion they could have given me. The Strait of Hormuz being closed came up a few times, deployed in conversation like it had simply decided to shut shop one day and move away. One person told me flat out that they didn’t want to comment on anything, as they needed to travel to the US and couldn’t afford to have anything come up in a search. They didn’t know who was listening or where it would end up. People were exercising an overabundance of caution because they were worried about what some algorithm might spit out at some juncture and throw a spanner in their plans. Perhaps rightly so.

I think the part that surprised me most was how pragmatic everyone was. No one was resigned, just that they knew things had to go on. Geopolitical instability and epidemics have stopped being crises and are increasingly becoming part of business continuity plans. At this point I guess force majeure is less of a future cover-your-ass and more of a line item.

At a panel discussion I attended on the future of trade amid global disruption, someone articulated it cleanly: the industry has moved from just-in-time to just-in-case. The whole logic of global food supply chains has thus far been built around efficiency: the right amount of the right thing arriving at exactly the right moment. There’s been no buffer or redundancy, because redundancy costs money. That logic is now being dismantled and rebuilt around resilience. The speakers talked about stockpiling, supplier diversification, multiple routes for everything, alternative ingredients and trading partners. All of this costs more and it’s less elegant, but it’s more likely to cushion some blows like when a single major shipping lane closes.

The impact also showed up in numbers. Freight costs are up and the high diesel prices are feeding into production costs at every level. A logistics company mentioned to me how they are trying to optimize their freight space to manage costs, which in turn means delays in sending out shipments.

And yet almost nobody was raising consumer prices, at least not yet, not if they could avoid it. Companies are adopting a wait and watch approach, with the mindset that there might be a resolution quickly. Everyone seemed acutely aware that affordability is the pressure point you don’t mess with and that passing costs along to consumers can only be a last resort.

The most candid conversation I had came from someone who wasn’t even talking about the war directly. They were talking about petrol prices. Their country had recently raised fuel costs but softened the blow for its own citizens with a subsidy. Smart, they said, but trucks coming in from overseas, cargo planes, international freight all still charged the full rate. So that price increase was feeding straight into food costs, logistics, raw materials, and pretty much everything operational. “It's not our war,” they told me, “but we are directly affected. Everybody is affected.” They made one more point that stuck with me: even if things stabilized tomorrow, don’t expect prices to come back down. If the market has held at this level, it stays there. Nobody volunteers a price cut. 

I spoke with the FHA’s event director Indiana Forrest-Bisley and he mentioned that the uncertainty had crept into the event planning itself. He said that the lead-up gave them “a lot of nerves”. And that’s understandable: FHA is 45% international. 

As he put it, “When you’re thinking about 80,000 attendees, that’s booking out every hotel in Singapore, that’s every flight coming in.” When shipping lanes shift and flight routes get cancelled, your exhibitors get stuck. As it turned out, 99% of the expected contingent made it, even though some products couldn’t get there. 

Other people I spoke to also told me the lengths that they went to just to be at the show. Many had cancelled and rebooked flights through other routes just to be there. I thought it was interesting that people still see such shows as very important, and so they’re willing to make the extra effort to get there.

One conversation that will probably stay with me was with a gentleman from a country that has seen more than its fair share of conflict over the last couple of decades (I’m leaving it there). He laughed and told me that bombs weren't new where he was from and are pretty much a daily affair. Life goes on, he said. Just like that. I found that simultaneously inspiring and devastating. No one should have to live like that. 

Another thing I wanted to dig into at FHA this year was what happened to Singapore’s ambitious 30 by 30 plan. This was launched in 2019, and aimed to produce 30% of the country’s food locally by 2030. Singapore imports over 90% of its food, and self-sufficiency was the big idea at the time. It still matters, but the conversation has slightly shifted. The language now is food security, which is broader. It’s no longer just about growing your own food but also making sure that you actually always have food.

30 by 30 unfortunately ran into a strong case of “man proposes, the universe disposes”. COVID happened, and with it, supply chain chaos. The economics of urban farming turned out to be brutal. The shiny new alternative protein industry was harder and more expensive to scale than anyone had projected. And geopolitics had its say too. Some of these pressures have eased, but they changed perspectives.  

On a panel, someone from the Singapore Food Agency explained the new framework is built around three words: anticipate, absorb, recover. Not prevent, and that’s the key shift. Disruptions are now a given. The question is how fast you see them coming, how well you absorb the shock, and how quickly you bounce back. A country that imports over 90% of its food has no natural buffer, which is precisely why it’s now building several. 

What replaced 30 by 30 is called Singapore Food Story 2. Under this strategy, Singapore is aiming to have 20% of fiber and 30% of protein consumption supplied locally by 2035. Fiber means fresh leafy and fruited vegetables, beansprouts, and mushrooms. Protein means eggs and seafood. For context, only 8% of fiber intake was produced domestically in 2024, and 26% of protein.

It was fascinating to see this policy in action at FHA. I came across an area showcasing products supported by the Singapore Agro-Food Enterprises Federation (SAFEF), a not-for-profit, government-funded body that brings together local vegetable and aquaculture farmers under one umbrella. There’s even a tilapia raised in seawater rather than freshwater, bred specifically in Singapore and registered as the country’s own intellectual property. I found this endeavor genuinely interesting, and a potential framework for other countries that are increasingly talking about self-sufficiency in the face of all manner of uncertainty.

This is a question I asked a lot of companies that had come from other countries. The answers were very interesting and I thought could neatly be split into two distinct groups: companies from Asia and from not-Asia.

I got the impression that Singapore is not a destination market. It’s more of a proof-of-concept market. It’s very open to new ideas and concepts (the government and the people); think novel, as in cultivated meat and new plant-based ingredients. It’s insanely diverse for such a small country, so practically any cuisine can find a nook. 

The goal for many companies here wasn’t to “crack” Singapore. It is to say they have. For example, premium placement in the right venues is a credential that travels across the region and opens doors elsewhere. This is the function Singapore serves supremely well – and this cuts both ways. 

For Western companies, Singapore is the gateway into Asia. A Dutch cheese brand told me they have been in Asia for 20 years and were last at FHA eight years ago. They're back now, specifically looking for new distribution across Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Vietnam.  For Southeast Asian companies, it’s the opposite. Singapore is the gateway out. A plant-based ice cream brand from Bangkok told me they were at FHA to open the door for their brand to become international one day.

For a country with limited land and natural resources as well as a complicated history with food security, that’s quite a position to have carved out!

Kang Kang Noodles’ microwaveable range’s flavors are a small lesson in Singaporean consumer behavior. Chili crab and Char Kway Teow for the crowd who know exactly what they want and aren’t interested in surprises, i.e., slightly older consumers. Hokkaido Ramen and Pad Thai for the younger buyers who will cheerfully try something that sounds vaguely Japanese and/or fashionable. The person behind the counter told me, “Older people know what they want. If they don’t know what Hokkaido is, they won’t buy it.”

This is a great expression of zero-friction cooking, removes every possible barrier between hunger and eating.

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