Escalating commodity prices beset consumers 6
Both are salaried workers, the couple’s income has not increased or even decreased due to the impact of the epidemic, but recent essential expenses have continuously increased, making Ms. Loan (District 5, Ho Chi Minh City) `sit idle.`
She said that currently, the daily market price for 3 people in the family costs about 120,000-200,000 VND, an increase of 50,000-100,000 VND compared to the same period last year.
Food costs increased by 50% compared to the beginning of the year. Ms. Hoa’s family each month instead of spending 3 million VND for dinner for 3 people, now has to spend an additional 2 million VND to make ends meet.
`Last year, commodity prices increased by 10%, but this year they have doubled in just 5 months. I have to add more money from my savings to cover these extra costs,` Ms. Hoa lamented.
Not cooking for her family often, but Ngoc Chau, Chief Accountant of a construction business in Tan Binh (HCMC), was startled when she saw the price of ready-made dishes at many restaurants increase by 10-20%.
Ms. Hanh, owner of a grocery store on Quang Trung street (Go Vap) admitted that food prices are currently increasing quite sharply.
In early 2020, each kg of pork belly was only 120,000 VND, but now, although the price of live pigs has decreased, it is still at 180,000 VND per kg.
According to Ms. Nhung, owner of a rice stall on Le Duc Tho Street (Go Vap, Ho Chi Minh City), the prices of many food items have increased sharply since the beginning of April this year, of which rice increased by 4,000-5,000 VND per kg.
As an enterprise specializing in food production, Mr. Do Van Khuoi – Supply Director of Saigon Food Company explained that the reason for the sharp increase in prices is due to reduced domestic supply and input materials in world markets.
`Along with the increase in input material prices, at some times production materials were out of stock due to the impact of Covid-19 and could not be transported by air or sea. Therefore, product prices were pushed up.
According to Mr. Khuoi, currently imported spices and additives have increased by 5-10%, raw materials for the plastic industry for production have increased by 15-70%, and rubber gloves have increased by 300%.
Sharing the same opinion, Vissan representative said that the increase in input materials is causing businesses `headaches`. Many suppliers of raw materials and flavorings for production have proposed to increase prices, but the company has only negotiated to apply it since May.
Most manufacturing businesses said that affected prices are increasing by 5-15% depending on each product in the first and second quarters and may increase by 10-25% from the third and fourth quarters of 2021.
While businesses are trying to stabilize prices and avoid sudden increases, state agencies are also looking for solutions.
A recent report from the General Statistics Office shows that the price index of raw materials, fuel, and materials used for production in April 2021 increased by 0.37% compared to the previous month and increased by 4.47% over the same period.
The General Statistics Office noted that the prices of animal feed raw materials and iron and steel products have increased, causing farmers and related businesses to face many challenges.
