VietNamNet Bridge – The continued price increases have caused headache to housewives, especially that Tet (the Lunar New Year) is coming in two months. It is difficult to predict the purchasing power for Tet holiday as many housewives say they have to tighten their belt.

Prices will rise by 10-15 percent at least

According to Phu nu Thanh pho HCM newspaper, besides the eight most essential goods which may not see price increases at Tet, because 14 distributors are committed to keep the prices stable, the prices of other products, including sweets, food and clothes, will increase considerably.

Nguyen Thi Ngoc Lien, External Relation Direct of Kinh Do Confectionary Corporation, said that the prices of materials for sweets production for 2011 Tet have increased by 30-40 percent over the last year. Especially, the price of sugar has increased twofolds, from 11,000 dong to 23,000 dong per kilo. Therefore, Kinh Do has to raise the prices of its final products. However, as Kinh Do has negotiated with the material, the  prices will only increase by 12 percent on Tet.

Meanwhile, the prices of imported materials, such as wheat, cream, butter and dairy products, have increased by 25-35 percent due to the dollar increases. The supply of materials for making mut sen (sugar coated lotus seeds) has become short because of the floods and rains. Especially, coconuts have become scarce because a big volume of coconuts has been exported to China.

Hoang Thi Tam Ai, Director of Tri Duc Company which specializes in providing materials for making jams (which always appear on tea parties on Tet days), complained that the coconut prices have increased twofolds. Therefore, Ai forecast that the price of coconut jam would increase by 50-60 percent.

Dong Nai newspaper quoted a PR officer of Bibica, a sweets manufacturer,saying that since the input aterial prices have increased by more than 20 percent, Bibica’s will have to raise the sale prices of its products by 8-10 percent.

According to Bui Hanh Thu, Deputy General Director of Saigon Co-op, a big retailer, sweets suppliers have warned that the prices may go up by 10-30 percent at least. Meanwhile, small merchants at Ben Thanh and An Dong markets in HCM City said the prices of jams have increased by 10-15 percent over the previous month, and may go up further in peak days.

Some fabric shops on Thu Khoa Huan Street in HCM City said that the prices of fabric imported from Japan and South Korea have increased by 20-40 percent, because of the both cotton and dollar price increases.

Prices go up, number of buyers goes down

Tuoi tre newspaper  reported that small merchants in big markets in HCM City all complain that the price increases slowed down their sales.

The three most popular Tet products namely dried shrimp, Chinese sausage and dried beef, have seen the prices increase by 20-30 percent over the previous month. At Ben Thanh market, high quality dried shrimp is selling at 420,000-450,000 dong per kilo,  70,000-100,000 dong per kilo higher than the previous year.

Thanh, a merchant at Ben Thanh Market, said that the supplies are unstable, and the purchasing power cannot be predicted. The number of Viet Kieu (overseas Vietnamese) and foreign tourists to Vietnam remains relatively high, but they do not make big purchases these days. Many of them simply visit the markets rather than buy anything.

The merchants said that Viet Kieu want ready made food or the products which they cannot find in their countries, such as instant dried fish, spices-soaked dried cuttle fish, or birds’ nests.

According to Lien, the Tet sale season seems to begin later this year than in previous years. Retailers from provinces should have placed orders already, but so far they only asked about prices.

Hoang Lan