|
Commodities about to get more expensive, again
As petrol prices have been rising and the minimum wage has increased, commodity prices are being raised in all markets and supermarkets.
HCM City has been witnessing a new wave of price increases, with the prices of vegetables having increased by VND1,500-3,000/kg. Cabbage is now selling at VND10,000/kg, while Da Lat-sourced lettuce has nearly reached VND30,000/kg.
The vegetable prices have also increased in Hanoi: tops of chayote are selling at VND10,000/kg (up by VND2,000), while spinach VND2,500-3,000/bunch instead of VND1,500-2,000, tomatoes at VND15,000/kg, while it was VND7,000/kg only one month ago.
Sugar has also increased in price and is now at VND12-13,000/kg.
Hoa, a petty merchant at Ba Chieu Market in HCM City, said that the regular rains have damaged vegetable fields, thus leading to a decrease in vegetable supply. The sellers in Hanoi’s markets also said that bad weather had made vegetable prices increase.
Meanwhile, supermarkets say that they have received notices from suppliers about price increases in the upcoming month.
According to Bui Hanh Thu, Deputy General Director of Saigon Co-op, most products to see price increases are imports which have become more expensive due to the VND/US$ exchange rate . Home appliance and consumer products prove to see the biggest price adjustments of 10-15%, while suppliers have suggested 20% increases for some commodities.
Saigon Co-op has not negotiated with suppliers about prices yet, but Thu said that the supermarket will refuse unreasonable price increases.
Citimart has received new price quotations from suppliers for several product items to be applied as of June 2009: Dish-washing liquid will be 5% higher in price, milk powder 10% and shampoo 5-10%.
According to Ngo Van Hai, Deputy Business Director of Citimart, demand has dropped since the May holiday.
“While several enterprises have launched price reduction programme, others have raised sale prices,” Hai said.
In some cases, enterprises have raised prices to the levels applied before the holiday.
Hapro Mart in Hanoi said that the chain has received notices about price increases for cosmetics and food products. The suggested price increases for the two categories of products are 5-10%. The suppliers say that they have to raise sale prices because of the higher petrol prices, which have made the transport fees higher. The appreciation of the dollar has also made import costs higher. However, Hapro still has not applied the new prices on items on sale at the supermarket chain.
Hapro’s representative said that the chain needs to spend several weeks to survey the market to know if the factors cited by suppliers to raise prices are reasonable. If the factors are unreasonable, Hapro will refuse to raise retail prices.
Duong Thi Quynh Trang, Public Relations Director of Big C, said that some suppliers have suggested price increases, for example, for CP chicken. However, the supermarket will keep sale prices unchanged.
While the prices of many processed foods are tending to increase, milk sales agents in Hanoi said that no price increases will occur for some months, since consumers faced a price increase wave last month already.
According to supermarkets, suppliers are attempting to raise prices because the minimum wage for labourers was raised on May 1. Moreover, petrol, electricity and water price increases have all also made input production costs higher.
“It is really difficult for enterprises to raise prices now, especially when enterprises need to boost sales,” the director of an enterprise said.
Businesses said that fluctuating input material prices, higher transport fees, and higher salary expenses all have forced businesses to reconsider production costs and sale prices.
Home appliance centres in Hanoi say that producers have not made any suggestions on raising the prices of these products, even though the minimum wage and petrol price have increased.
“In order to compete with rivals in the context that people all are tightening their belts, no big producer is foolish enough to think of raising sale prices,” said Phan Thanh Dat, PR Director of Pico Plaza Supermart.
VietNamNet, VNE
|
