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Imported food prices threaten to increase at end of 2009
Imported food prices have stabilized in October after a 10 percent increase. Importers now warn that the prices will increase again towards the year’s end.
Tran Van Toan, Director of Thien Vuong Food Company, an importer and distributor of dairy products and pork, beef, chicken and lamb products from Australia and New Zealand in Hanoi, has confirmed that the prices of food to be imported for Tet will increase.
Toan said that the problem does not lie in the VND/US$ exchange rate, but in the fact that import prices in dollars have increased by three to five percent.
“We will keep the same prices when selling the consignments we imported previously, but the prices of new imports will be raised,” Toan stated.
Food importers and distributors all said that they have nearly completed plans for importing goods for Tet. All contracts on food imports have already been signed.
Hoang Huong, Director of HCM City-based Huong Thuy Company, which imports and distributes several hundred product items, agreed that goods for Tet will increase in price.
Huong complained that the company’s profit has decreased dramatically because of the VND/US$ exchange rate fluctuations. Huong said that the dollar price once exceeded the 19,000 dong per dollar threshold last week.
For example, a box of cookies worth $1 previously had the cost price of 18,000 dong, but the price has risen to 19,000 dong due to the dollar price increase. Meanwhile, the distributor cannot adjust the sale price because it still needs to evaluate the situation.
Huong admitted that if the dollar price stays high, her company will have to adjust prices at the end of November.
Meanwhile, another Hanoi-based foot import company in Hanoi, Minh Anh Company, revealed that it will try to keep prices stable from now to the end of 2009, especially since the company just raised prices one month ago.
“The information we have says that the national economy has escaped from economic difficulties. However, we realize that purchasing power remains very weak,” a representative of the company explained.
He stressed that if the dollar price keeps rising and the dollar supply remains short, the company will have no other choice than to adjust product prices again.
Meanwhile, food retailers report that prices have been stable and that they have not received any notice from suppliers on raising prices.
However, baby formula prices have increased sharply. The 800 gram Aptamil carton sourced from Germany, for example, had been priced at 395,000 dong previously. Now the price has risen to 430,000-440,000 dong. Hipp powdered milk prices have also increased similarly.
A food shop owner on Lang Ha street said that the 45,000 dong per box increase is not because of a shortage, but is due rather to the VND/EUR exchange rate increase from 26,500 dong to 28,000 dong per euro.
Nguyen Nga
vietnamnet
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