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Consumption demands to soar for Tet
Consumption demands for the upcoming Tet (Lunar New Year), the country’s largest festival of the year, are expected to increase roughly 20 percent over last year, but prices should not surge sharply, according to the chairman of the Vietnam Supermarkets Association, Vu Vinh Phu.
Phu anticipated that prices would rice only 5-10 percent over current levels if the country does not suffer from any serious natural disasters and disease before then.
Nguyen Thai Dung, deputy general director of BigC, said that increases would vary on different kinds of goods. He forecast that food and foodstuffs would rise by roughly 10-15 percent over the same period last year, not accounting for inflation.
However, Dung said, the average surge would be roughly 5-7 percent.
To ensure supply and stable prices, the Hanoi Department of Industry and Trade has asked relevant bodies to provide 160 billion VND in non-interest loans so traders can stockpile.
Phu urged relevant bodies to quickly approve the proposal so that traders could stockpile goods at least two months ahead of Tet to allow time for the assistance to take effect.
Phu explained that goods had to be stockpiled two months ahead of Tet, so that traders could take advantage of reliable sources to keep prices lower. Last year, the provision of the same loan took effect too late, only 15 to 20 days before Tet.
Traders have already begun preparing goods and commodities, although there’s still three months to go.
BigC’s Phu said his supermarket kicked off preparations last month, adding that it would finish signing agreements with suppliers on volume s and prices of goods for Tet in the next few weeks to meet customer demands.
BigC has planned to raise its stockpile of goods for Tet by roughly 20-30 percent over last year.
The Hapro supermarket chain, of the Hanoi Trade Corporation, also dispatched staff to the South last month to diversify its supply sources.
Vissan, which is among the country’s leading meat and food processors and distributors, plans to stockpile 6,000 tonnes of meat, 1,500 tonnes of processed food and 10,000 tonnes of fruit and vegetables.
Vissan has also sped up its purchase of raw materials to ensure its production and processing for the rest of the year.
Sai Gon Agricultural Food Processing and Animal Breeding Company (Sagrifood) plans to regularly stockpile 1,000 tonnes of rice, 1,800 tonnes of meat, 100 tonnes of poultry and 50 tonnes of processed food.
VNA
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