It is late afternoon near closing time and stall holders at a crowded Sheung Shui market are slashing prices. Single mum and dole recipient Amy Wong, 35, makes a beeline for the bargains to feed her family of three. In her purse is her daily budget of HK$150.

She pops into a butcher’s shop to buy a catty of pork for HK$29, then picks up a packet of buns for HK$25 which will do as breakfast for her children, aged four and nine. She then races to another shop to buy some bananas for HK$20 before getting a small bag of vegetables for HK$23 and then she rushes over to another stall to buy two trays of eggs for HK$40.

“The food costs less than HK$140 but it will be enough for making three meals which is the most important and fundamental thing for our family’s survival,” she said.