HÀ NỘI — The purchasing power in the domestic market is expected to increase by between 15-20 per cent from now until the 2021 Tết (Lunar New Year), with food products seeing the strongest rise, said Trần Duy Đông, director of the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT)’s Domestic Market Department.
The higher purchasing power is due to consumer confidence in macro-economic stability, along with increasing income of people at the end of the year, he said.
Therefore, enterprises have plans to prepare enough supply of goods and consumption stimulus programmes to meet people's needs, Đông said.
Those plans would not cause a great change in selling prices, according to the ministry.
Meanwhile, at local markets, the prices of fresh food items will regularly fluctuate in the days approaching Tết due to strong increase in food demand. However, growth rate of the prices may be curbed partly because of stable prices at supermarkets and commercial centres and points selling stabilised-priced goods in localities, Đông said.
According to Nguyễn Quốc Toản, director of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD)’s Department of Agricultural Product Processing and Market Development, all agricultural sectors such as cultivation, husbandry and fisheries are promoting production and processing to meet the needs of consumers at year-end and the Lunar New Year festival.
Toản said the demand for livestock products, especially meat and eggs, until Tết is expected to increase by 5-10 per cent compared to the monthly average demand at about 250,000-350,000 tonnes of meat and 1-1.7 billion eggs.
With the maintenance of stable cattle and poultry herds after re-production and disease is strictly controlled, the market will keep a balance between supply and demand for all kinds of meat to avoid a shortage of food.
Trần Thị Phương Lan, deputy director of the Hà Nội Department of Industry and Trade, said by the end of 2020 and until the Lunar New Year in 2021, shopping demand in Hà Nội will increase by between 3-20 per cent for each commodity group.
To meet the needs of the people, the department has asked businesses in Hà Nội to prepare sufficient supply for commodities with high demand before and during Tết, such as dried agricultural products (up 25-33 per cent against normal months); gasoline (up 20 per cent); and flowers and ornamental plants (up 25-35 per cent).
The total value of goods for Tết in Hà Nội is estimated to reach about VNĐ39.4 trillion, up about 5 per cent compared to that for Tết in 2020.
Besides diversified supply sources, Lan said, the department opened 12 local markets and 300 mobile vendors to bring products to the people in suburban districts and mountainous communes, as well as employees in industrial zones.
Retailers will also sell goods for Tết at 28 shopping malls, 142 supermarkets, 455 markets, 11,382 e-commerce websites, thousands of convenience stores and agricultural product distribution chains.
Hà Nội will open 28 sales points for producers and traders from other localities to sell their regional specialties, ensuring quality, origin and reasonable price, said Lan.
At the same time, the departments of industry and trade of localities in the Mekong Delta region have also completed preparation of goods for Tết.
According to the Department of Industry and Trade of Kiên Giang, the province has a total volume of 51,500 tonnes of goods for Tết worth about VNĐ2.3 trillion, an increase of 6.73 per cent over the same period last year.
In Tiền Giang, the provincial People's Committee has plans to ensure the supply of essential goods for Tết in 2021. Under the plan, enterprises and cooperatives will store goods worth about VNĐ443.6 billion, including VNĐ98.4 billion in essential goods such as rice, sugar, cooking oil, meat and poultry.
A representative of the Department of Industry and Trade of An Giang Province said 22 businesses have registered to sell stabilised-price goods such as rice, canned products, fresh and processed foods, instant noodles, sugar and milk at 430 places, including seven supermarkets, 54 Bách Hóa Xanh stores and 20 Vinmart + stores and 343 petrol stations.
Tô Nguyễn Kiều Trinh, purchasing director of Big C supermarket system, said that since October, purchasing power and consumption of goods have increased again. Purchasing power at Big C until the Tết festival is expected to increase sharply by 30-40 per cent. Therefore, the supermarket must order more goods and also look for more sources of goods from localities, especially regional specialties, reported the Công thương (industry and trade) newspaper.
Meanwhile, Nguyễn Văn Võ, director of Co.opmart Cai Lậy in Tiền Giang Province, said this supermarket is coordinating with suppliers to prepare goods according to the plan on stockpiling and supply of goods that are registered to the Tiền Giang Department of Industry and Trade.
He said this year, prices of cattle and poultry meat are likely to increase due to shortage of supply. — VNS