Lovers of premium Japanese sashimi, fine French lobsters, turbot or Italian seabass may need to curtail their appetite for luxury imported seafood as international lockdowns and other travel curbs caused by the Covid-19 outbreak play havoc with the delivery of perishable ingredients into Singapore.
Suppliers and fine-dining restaurants report that cancelled flights, heightened safety measures and logistical nightmares have led to delays or non-arrival of shipments, forcing chefs to hunt for alternative sources or switch to different ingredients altogether.
According to a supplier who deals in both Japanese and European produce, orders for air-freighted live and freshly caught seafood from affected countries have been the most badly affected.
“I have a partnership with a Japanese supplier and many internal flights in the country have been cancelled because of the coronavirus. So all our cargo to Singapore has been delayed. But at least it is still coming. My cargo from Europe has been delayed until further notice. Even my shipment from Sri Lanka is supposed to have arrived by now, but there’s a partial lockdown there for two weeks, so I don’t know when it will come.”
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