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Ministries anticipate price increases of some kinds of goods
The Ministries of Finance and Industry and Trade have forecast that the prices of dairy products, petroleum, rice and animal feed will increase towards the year’s end, but affirm that they will be controllable.
An official from the Price Control Agency under the Ministry of Finance said that the agency believes dairy products will increase by another 6-8 percent by the end of the third quarter or early fourth quarter in comparison with the first quarter of the year. Meanwhile, the price of fresh milk, which is an input material for dairy products, is expected to increase by 3-4 percent.
Dairy product prices are expected to increase because of the higher animal feed prices and the dollar price increases, which may push imported dairy product prices up. The Ministry of Finance is now proposing putting dairy products onto the list of products the prices of which can be stablised by the state.
According to the Ministries of Agriculture and Rural Development and Finance, the rice price is also expected to increase because of higher demand from rice-importing countries.
Director of Tien Giang Food Company Nguyen Ngoc Nam said on June 28 that the paddy price in the Mekong Delta has been increasing sharply these days, especially scented rice. The rice price has increased by 200-300 dong per kilogramme over the last one week on average, while the scented rice price has increased by 800 dong per kilogramme in comparison with early June 2009. The price of low-quality IR50404 has also increased, having exceeded the threshold of 4,000 dong per kilogramme, though sales have been going slowly.
Experts say scented rice prices have increased because exporters have signed contracts to export big volumes of rice to Africa, Hong Kong and Singapore.
A lot of economic institutions in the world have raised the forecast crude oil price to $85 a barrel by the end of the year. If the world’s oil price increases, this will lead to the sharp price increases of many other products including ingot steel and materials for industrial production. The petroleum price increases will lead to the increases of transport service fees.
According to the Ministry of Finance’s Price Control, the LPG price in July in the world may increase by $20-30 per tonne. The retail domestic LPG price will increase accordingly by 5,000-7,500 dong 12kg tank.
Market research agencies under the ministries still keep cautious when analysing the price tendency of many products, including cement, steel fertiliser and sugar.
According to the agencies, though the demand for cement, steel and construction materials is high, the profuse supply (some big factories plan to become operational in the time to come) will stabilise these products’ prices. Meanwhile, rains and storms in the upcoming months are believed will limit the demand for these products.
Food prices are not expected to see big changes in the time to come. Regarding medicine, state management agencies have forecast the price increases of some kinds of products, but have affirmed there will not be any sharp price hikes.
VietNamNet, VnMedia
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