Fishmongers at Tekka Centre in Little India told InfoHandle Network that lunch-hour sales stayed soft on Sunday even as the National Environment Agency forecast rain over Singapore on Monday that could temper haze drift from Sumatra and Kalimantan.
NEA’s evening advisory on 18 October projected the 24-hour Pollutant Standards Index between 100 and 190 on 19 October — still within the unhealthy band. Winds from the south-south-east or south may limit smoke transport from Kalimantan, the agency said, though Sumatra plumes could still reach the island.
Vendors who normally prep outdoors said they kept filleting and washing indoors where exhaust fans could run. Several reduced display volume to limit waste when footfall dropped after mid-morning. One stallholder said regular customers were switching to shorter visits: “They call ahead, pick up, leave — no coffee downstairs.”
City-wide pattern
Channel News Asia reported on 18 October that businesses in western Singapore felt the brunt when the 24-hour PSI hit 230 at 10 a.m. — the highest islandwide reading this season. Central districts including Tekka did not reach that peak, but hourly PM2.5 readings remained elevated through the afternoon, keeping mask use common among older shoppers.
The lifestyle desk is not ranking hawkers; it is tracking how household routines bend. Wet markets depend on impulse buys and banter. When air quality pushes people to delivery apps, stallholders lose the S$3 sprig of herbs and the extra fish head that walk-in traffic supplies.
What Monday rain would and would not fix
Meteorological relief is not the same as economic relief. Rain may scrub particulates and keep PSI from revisiting western “very unhealthy” spikes, but it does not refund unsold ice or reopen cancelled weekend events that usually feed market crowds.
Until NEA lifts the unhealthy streak that began on 9 October, expect shorter trips and earlier closing prep at covered markets too — not only open-air heartland blocks.
Delivery apps and margins
Several Tekka stalls lack dedicated delivery partnerships, relying on walk-in traffic from office workers in the Serangoon Road corridor. When PSI readings discourage lunch outings, wholesalers still deliver whole fish that must move within hours. Vendors discount tails and secondary cuts rather than absorb spoilage.
Community centre activities nearby also thinned, reducing footfall from older residents who typically shop mid-morning. Stallholders said they would reassess Tuesday orders after NEA’s Monday evening update.
Rain forecast for Monday may help, but vendors remember 2015’s long haze: a single wet day does not reset habits if shoppers expect another spike by Thursday.