Reduce prices of healthy food, drink options

I read the report “Soft drink companies urged to cut sugar content” (Aug 21).

Many soft-drink manufacturers have already been producing low-sugar versions of their products.

Unfortunately, these low-sugar drinks are usually priced higher than the regular drinks, probably due to the lower production volume.

On the other hand, such price differences would discourage many budget-conscious consumers from buying these healthier products, and this would inevitably curtail their growth in demand.

It becomes a vicious circle where there are higher production costs due to low demand, leading to higher prices, which then cause demand to stay low.

Incidentally, the scenario is the same for canned food with lower salt content or which is free of monosodium glutamate.

To break this circle, manufacturers should price their healthier products the same as or lower than that of their regular ones, and allow time for demand to grow eventually.