Singapore cracks global top 10 for food resilience

Climate readiness remains the country's weakest link, new index finds.

Singapore ranked amongst the world's 10 most resilient food systems in a new global index, but the study found climate resilience remains the country's weakest area.

The inaugural Resilient Food Systems Index by Economist Enterprise, supported by food and agriculture corporation Cargill, ranked Singapore ninth out of 60 countries with an overall score of 73.0.

Singapore was the second-highest ranked economy in Asia and the top performer in Southeast Asia. Malaysia ranked 10th in the global ranking with the same overall score.

The index assessed food systems across four areas, namely affordability, availability, quality and safety, and climate risk responsiveness.

Singapore scored highest in affordability with 85.2 points. It received 99.9 for the affordability of healthy diets and 81.5 for food safety net programmes.

The country also ranked seventh globally for food availability with a score of 67.7, despite importing about 90% of its food which the report attributed to Singapore's diversified import strategy, logistics infrastructure, and supply chain efficiency.

Singapore scored 79.8 for food quality and safety, ranking 11th globally. Its food safety sub-score of 94.9 was the fourth highest in Asia-Pacific.

Climate risk responsiveness was Singapore's lowest-scoring category at 57.4, placing it 35th globally.

The report noted that no Asia-Pacific economy performed strongly in this area, making climate resilience a common challenge across the region.

The findings come as Singapore continues to implement its Singapore Food Story 2 strategy, which sets food security and sustainability targets through 2035.

"The results offer an independent, data-driven endorsement of Singapore's Food Story 2 strategy, confirming that Singapore can build a world-class food system through trade, partnership and targeted investment rather than production alone," said John Fering, group president, food APAC at Cargill.

The Resilient Food Systems Index covers 60 countries across six regions and uses 71 indicators to assess food system resilience.