There's an alarming appreciation of the US Dollar (USD) against the Singapore Dollar (SGD), specially over the 3 days. The USD is currently trading at 1.45 to the SGD. It was 1.39 a week ago, and 1.35 three months ago. How will this impact the price of Personal mobility aids (PMA) such as mobility scooters and electric wheelchairs in Singapore?
All PMA in Singapore are imported. It doesn't matter where they are imported from, because USD is the global trading currency, so most factories denote their export prices in USD, wherever they are located. Any big swing in USD-SGD exchange rates will have a knock-on effect on the import prices, and ultimately retail prices.
Retailers may not raise prices in the short term, since existing stock was probably procured before Chinese New Year when the USD was much lower.
However, these stocks are running low, due to supply disruption from China, when they locked down their country and extended the Chinese New Year holidays.
Once these old stock stocks are sold, the new stocks that arrive will have been procured at a higher cost. Sellers may have no choice but to increase retail prices.
So if you plan to purchase a personal mobility aid, wait no longer! Prices will almost certainly go up in the next few months.
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