A Comparison of Panic Buying Across Countries: Are Singaporeans really as Xia Suay as Chan Chun Sing says?

Panic buying has become some sort of trend amongst Covid-19 hit countries.

When Singapore first announced that the DOSCORN level has been raised to orange on a Friday night, hundreds, maybe thousands of Singaporeans flocked to nearby supermarkets and hogged toilet paper, canned goods and instant noodles.

Like a scene from the movies, this was described as xia suay by our Minister for Trade and Industry, Mr Chan Chun Sing.

At some point in time, the panic buying situation that was mainly seen as an Asian occurrence slowly expanded to countries in the western hemisphere and the land down under.

Soon, panic buying was seen all over the globe, and that’s when we started thinking, we not that xia suay right?

How did other countries fare?

Malaysia

When news of a positive coronavirus case was reported in the Malaysian state of Penang, people rushed to stock up on toilet rolls, dried foods and instant noodles. While over at Sabah, everything seemed to be normal, with no signs of panic buying.

However, panic buying hit Malaysia after it announced that it would enter a state of Lockdown.

A funny twist of events considering how this guy mocked Singaporeans for panic buying buy dancing in front of fully stocked shelves in Malaysia.

Indonesia

For the longest time, Indonesia did not report any cases of coronavirus. However, when President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo announced the country’s first two cases, the country went into a state of panic.

Queues formed at supermarkets with people rushing to obtain cartons of instant noodles and bags of frozen food.

Thailand

Over at Bangkok, long queues are forming at major supermarkets as people try to get a hold on dried goods, instant noodles and drinking water.

According to BangkokPost, Mintita Thowkam, 33, a company employee, said she’s begun hoarding goods because she is afraid of the coronavirus and is not confident in the government’s measures to control the spread.

The Thai Chamber of Commerce continues to discourage the public on panic buying.

Philippines

The number of cases jumped from 3 to 142 in just 10 days for the Philippines, which triggered many Filipinos to hoard supplies, which included the most trending item as of late – toilet paper.

Hong Kong

Hong Kong was one of the first few countries that was badly hit by panic buying. There was even an instance where armed robbers stole over hundreds of toilet rolls.

People began stockpiling rolls of toilet paper in their apartments.

Japan

A similar situation was seen in Japan with many hoarding facemasks and toilet paper. The country made headlines when cases continued to escalate due to the Diamond Princess cruise ship.

The main reason for this panic buying was due to online rumours spreading that toilet paper and face masks will run out as they were imported from China.

South Korea

A church cluster that was behind the spike of cases in South Korea caused panic to the city of Daegu. Supermarkets saw shoppers in Daegu buying essentials such as instant noodles and other foods.

However, that was it. South Korea did not experience a severe panic buying situation countrywide despite its recent increase in the number of cases. Arirang News reported that supermarkets only saw consumers buying an increased amount of rice and water compared to usual.

There is also a video of a Chinese reporter giving a tour of the local supermarket to show how the outbreak has not caused any panic buying in South Korea.

Australia

In the land down under, the Covid-19 situation has triggered panic buying as most people could not get their hands on toilet paper, rice, flour and other daily food items.

This has led to Woolsworth restricting the amount of toilet rolls one can purchase, as well as a dedicated shopping hour for seniors to get items in a less-crowded environment.

New Zealand

Similarly, New Zealand also saw an increase in shoppers purchasing toilet paper and other items such as bread and frozen foods. The line into a supermarket was so long it extended all the way to the car park as well.

United Kingdom

The panic buying situation in UK seems to be equally bad as well. While supermarkets have been advised to restrict the amount of items of certain products, long queues of shoppers with packed trolleys can still be seen.

Italy

After a nationwide lockdown was announced, Italians were seen rushing to supermarkets and getting supplies.

America

Panic buying has also hit the land of the free. An article on LA Times showed the situation in 22 different Los Angeles supermarkets, and most of them are out of toilet paper and canned goods. One store also sold out on Pork Butts, a situation which has never occurred before.

Over at New York, panic buying has also hit several supermarkets as people began stocking up on food and supplies.

How Xia Suay Are We Singaporeans?

Judging from the response in different countries, we can see that panic buying usually happens after a spike in cases or when the country goes into lockdown. In Singapore’s case, it was when our DOSCORN level was raised to orange.

Some may argue that panic buying is justifiable because it allows us to feel a sense of control in an uncertain situation. In a scenario where we envision ourselves having to stay at home for a long period of time, it is human nature to overprepare to feel a sense of preparedness for what lies ahead.

When Singaporeans saw neighbouring countries such as Hong Kong stockpiling rolls of toilet paper and images of shelves being cleared empty in supermarkets, we panicked. This sparked off insecurity in some Singaporeans and compelled them to stock up on daily essentials such as toilet paper. According to a CNN Journalist, panic buying begets panic buying, also known as herd mentality. Herd mentality coupled with the Singaporean kiasu mentality is a recipe for disaster.

We have also seen the consequences that fake news can bring about, triggering panic buying in some of the above-mentioned countries. This is why we should always obtain information from reliable sources such as the gov.sg Whatsapp service.

If you ask us whether Singaporeans were really as xia suay as Chan Chun Sing said, our answer is – maybe?

Singapore was using the new DOSCORN system which was only implemented after the SARS outbreak. With the DOSCORN level being raised to orange, we were faced with a new challenge.

With much still unknown about the virus and the fluidity of the situation, there was, and still is, a possibility that the virus could spread quickly within our small city-state. This is probably why the panic buying occurred.

More recently, when Malaysia announced that it would go into lockdown, we saw glimpses of panic buying happening again. This time, we think, Singaporeans really very xia suay.

Why? Lessons were not learnt; mistakes were made once again. Over the past couple weeks, local authorities have been issuing statements assuring Singaporeans that our food supplies would not be affected and we should collectively stay calm. Yet, we saw long queues in supermarkets when Malaysia’s lockdown was announced.

Thankfully, it was only a small portion of Singaporeans. This time we never xia suay that badly.

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