Prices of fresh food tread water, supermarkets increase promotions

The general record on the market at year’s end in Ho Chi Minh City on January 6 shows that the amount of goods at wholesale markets is plentiful and the prices are fairly stable.
Mr. Tran A Sin, the representative of Binh Dien Wholesale Market, said that currently, the amount of aquatic and seafood products arriving at the market every night is around 1,200-1,300 tons, higher than the previous month. As it is the season for festivities so the prices of some high-grade aquatic and seafood products, such as gudgeon fish and greater sturgeon, have sky-rocketed while those of other types of fish, including red tilapia, carp, snakehead and bagridae, have been stable or even slightly dropped sometime as the amount of goods arriving at the market is fairly high but the demand has not risen yet.

Similarly, the amount of vegetables and fruits to Hoc Mon Wholesale Market is also steady at 2,600-2,700 per day.

As for pork, according to the management board of wholesale markets, the price of pigs has been stable around VND83,000 per kilogram for 20 days. Although the price of pigs no longer climbs as before, the current price level of VND83,000 per kilogram is still much higher than that in the same period last year. Due to high price, the amount of pork to wholesale markets continues to decline, lower than normal consumption level. Particularly, the Hoc Mon Wholesale Market received 305 tons of pork on January 6, an increase of 13 tons compared to the previous day but still much lower than an average level of 400 tons per day previously. The market has seen adjustment as high prices have caused purchasing power to weaken. Consumers tend to shift to buy imported pork because of cheaper prices and steady quality.

At supermarkets, the preparation of goods for Tet holidays has been smooth, selling prices of various products remain stable. Supermarkets have been closely cooperating with suppliers to run several programs to stimulate consumption at year’s end. Big C Supermarket offers discounts for various kinds of aquatic and seafood products and VinMart gives a discount of up to 24 percent for imported pig’s trotter. Similarly, other supermarket chains, such as Co.opmart and Bach Hoa Xanh, also reduce the prices of several processed and fresh food products to boost consumption.

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