Crab and green-legged shrimp prices double on God of Wealth day

Today, each kilo of green-legged shrimp costs 500,000 VND, Ca Mau crab costs 600,000 VND, double the price compared to yesterday.

From early morning on the 10th of the first lunar month (the day of the God of Wealth), major markets in Ho Chi Minh City such as Xom Moi (Go Vap), Ba Chieu (Binh Thanh), Tan Dinh (District 1) were packed with people shopping for offerings to the God of Wealth. Although the prices of crabs and green-legged shrimp doubled compared to the previous day, many stalls were still "sold out" after only a few hours.

At Xom Moi market, grilled snakehead fish weighing 400 grams each costs 100,000 VND, equivalent to 250,000 VND per kilogram, up 50% compared to normal days. Particularly, giant freshwater prawns weighing 10 per kilogram have jumped to 500,000 VND, and crabs weighing 350-500 grams cost 550,000-600,000 VND per kilogram, double yesterday.

A 600 gram crab is sold for VND360,000 at Xom Moi market, Go Vap district (HCMC). Photo: Thi Ha

Ms. Hoang Anh said that this morning she bought a 600 gram crab for 360,000 VND, a crayfish for 50,000 VND, and a grilled snakehead fish for 100,000 VND. "I only bought one of each type but spent more than half a million VND. This year, the price has increased too much," she said.

According to Ms. Huyen, a trader at Ba Chieu market (Binh Thanh district), in just one hour in the morning, she sold out 30 crabs and had to ask her family to bring more. "I was worried about economic difficulties and customers tightening their spending, so I imported 20% less goods than last year. I didn't expect the demand to be so high, many items sold out early," she said.

In addition, items accompanying the offering tray such as sticky rice, sweet soup, flowers, and fruits also increased in price by 10-30% due to strong purchasing power. Gerbera daisies and seven-color chrysanthemums increased 2-3 times in some places, red bean sweet soup increased by 5,000 VND per cup, mango, grapefruit, and custard apple were 5,000-10,000 VND per kilogram more expensive than usual.

Giant freshwater prawns cost VND500,000 per kilogram at Xom Moi market, Go Vap district. Photo: Thi Ha

Traders say prices of goods have increased. due to a 10-30% decrease in shrimp and crab supply compared to last year. Many sellers on this occasion have sharply reduced production due to concerns about slowing purchasing power. However, in reality, demand remains high, making the food market more vibrant than expected.

A report from Binh Dien wholesale market shows that in the past two days, the amount of fish arriving at the market reached 635 tons, an increase of 82% compared to the same period last year. The price of live snakehead fish only increased slightly, but that of grilled snakehead fish increased sharply because traders added loss and processing costs.

In addition to food, the gold market is equally vibrant. This morning, jewelry stores in Ho Chi Minh City fixed the selling price of gold bars and plain rings at around VND86.5-90.3 million per tael, while widening the buying and selling gap to VND3.5 million. Large stores such as PNJ, DOJI, and SJC were crowded with customers, having to issue queue numbers to control the amount of purchases. 24K plain rings and gold jewelry in the shape of the God of Wealth were highly sought after.

Similarly, Vietlott and traditional lottery tickets also sold well. Many agents said that the number of tickets sold increased by 40-50%, especially the lucky numbers 39, 79, 38, 78 (God of Wealth, God of Land).

Source