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Commodity prices forecast to rise 7-10%
Supermarts in Hanoi have forecast that the prices of many commodities will increase by 7-10% in August, as the government has announced the sharp 30% petrol price hike.
Big supermarts say that they have not received any notifications from suppliers on adjusting prices. However, Deputy General Director of Big C Supermart Nguyen Thai Dung said that price increases are inevitable as the petrol price has increased by 30%. Dung said that commodity prices will increase by 7-10%.
According to Dung, as for popular commodities, input materials just account for 20-30% of total expenses. Therefore, the 30% petrol price increase will make the production costs of the commodities increase by 5-7%. However, Dung said that the sale price increases may be a little higher as purchasing power always increases in the last months of the year.
Nguyen Dao Thuy, Head of the Food Division under the Hanoi Trade Corporation (Hapro), also thinks commodity prices will rise by 8-10% in the next month, especially essential food products.
Thuy said that Hapro has not received any notice on price adjustments from local producers, while it has been continuously receiving notices on increases in the prices of imported products, especially confections and food from Thailand and France. Importers have suggested 10-15% price increases for imported products, saying that they have been trying to keep the prices stable for a long time. But they will have to raise prices as of August 1.
Thuy said that these are the only importers and distributors; therefore, it would be very difficult to negotiate with them about prices. Hapro’s staffs will have to make a market tour to survey the market before submitting suggestions to the director about new prices.
Dung at Big C said that the supermart will consider price increase suggestions thoroughly, and only accept the price increases it finds reasonable.
Dung said that if commodity prices are pushed up to overly high prices, purchasing power will decrease. If so, neither distributors, nor producers will benefit. Vice versa, if producers and distributors shake hands to share benefit, they will still be able to bring valuable commodities to customers at reasonable prices.
He added that if producers and suppliers can sign agreements with concrete commitments on production and consumption, producers will feel assured with their production, while commodity prices can be maintained at reasonable levels.
Vu Thi Hau, Deputy General Director of Fivimart, declined to give forecasts about commodity prices increases in the time to come, but she said suppliers are keeping abreast of the situation to determine suitable price increases.
VNN
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