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Consumer goods unexpectedly decreasing in price
The prices of many categories of products, from fresh food, fabric, leather and footwear, plastics and kitchenware, have unexpectedly decreased over the last one week in HCM City.
Fresh food proves to have seen the sharpest price decreases with prices dropping by 1,000-5,000 dong per kilogramme. This is the first time since Tet the market has seen food prices decreasing.
The prices of white- and coloured-feather fowls bred industrially are being sold by farms at 20,000 and 37,000 dong per kilogramme, a decrease of 6,000-7,000. Housewives are purchasing tam hoang fowls at 48,000-53,000 per kilogramme instead of 60,000 dong.
Similarly, the pork price has decreased by 6,000 dong per kilogramme of live weight to 36,000. Meanwhile, at some markets in HCM City, the retail pork price has decreased by 2,000-4,000 per kilogramme.
Seafood and vegetable prices have also decreased. Nhung, a housewife in Thu Duc district in HCM City, said that a kilogramme of tomatoes has dropped by 3,000 dong per kilogramme to 5,000, while other vegetables have also seen prices down by 500-2,000 dong per kilogramme. Though the volume of fish available at Binh Dien farm produce wholesale market last week decreased by 1 percent to 3,630 tonnes, fish prices have dropped significantly by 2,000-4,000 per kilogramme.
Demand low, supply profuse
Kim Vang, the owner of the Vinh Phat ready-made clothing kiosk at Kim Bien Market, said that new product prices have decreased by 10 percent, while out-of-date products by 30 percent.
Lieu, the owner of kiosk 304 at Binh Tay Market, also said that she had to lower the sale prices of imported fabric even though the dollar price has been increasing. Some kinds of fabric have seen prices drop by up to 50 percent.
Nguyet, the owner of a grocery in Bau Cat residential quarter, related that everything has decreased in price. Soft drink products have decreased by 2,000 dong per box of 24 cans, while retailers can get the discount of 1 percent more on shampoo and shower cream products.
As the rainy season is nearing, students are now staying at home and the demand for consumer products has been decreasing.
“Cantinas in high schools and universities do not order chicken these days, while street rice shops have also slashed ordered volumes,” the director of an animal slaughtering company said.
Huynh Quoc Bao from the Binh Tay Market management board said that as there are few customers, petty merchants have to slash sale prices.
Nguyen Thi Kim, a petty merchant at Ben Thanh Market, said that though the dollar price and material price have increased, the prices of footwear and ready-made clothes have still decreased because of low demand. Petty merchants are now trying to sell products before the rainy season arrives.
Tran Quang Trung, who specialises in providing pork at Hoc Mon wholesale market, said that the pork price has dropped dramatically due to slow sales. He said he previously sold 40 pigs a night, while he is selling 30 only now.
VietNamNet, SGTT
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