Across Asia, food vendors are contending with higher costs for plastic bags, cups and containers as the energy crisis triggered by the Middle East war drives prices up.
While the U.S. and Iran have reached a memorandum to halt the conflict, the possibility of new attacks remains. It will also take time for markets to recover and supply flows to return to normal, with persistent concerns over traffic through the economically vital Strait of Hormuz.
At Taipei's Songjiang market, chicken vendor Li Yu-ping, 52, said in early June that the price of plastic bags had jumped nearly 60%, while the cost of plastic trays had risen by a third.
"We use them everywhere," she said of the bags. "Our food containers are also plastic, all disposable."
Wary of hiking prices, "all of this has become a cost for the vendors," she said.
