HUNG YEN The price of arrowroot vermicelli has now reached 50,000 VND/kg, but craft villagers still do not make a profit because the price of arrowroot starch used to make vermicelli is constantly increasing.
Never before have people working in the field of making cassava vermicelli in Lai Trach village (Yen Phu commune, Yen My, Hung Yen) faced so many difficulties as they do now. The main reason is that the price of raw materials (canna starch) for vermicelli production has been continuously increasing due to a shortage of supply.
Mr. Nguyen Van Thang, Director of Lai Trach Vermicelli Processing Cooperative, said: Currently, the price of vermicelli is up to 50 thousand VND/kg, 13-14 thousand VND/kg higher than the same period last year, but producers still do not make a profit. In addition, the season for processing vermicelli for Tet has a lot of rain, the vermicelli cannot be dried, and must be discarded because it gets moldy, which also contributes to pushing up the price of vermicelli.
Drying vermicelli in the traditional craft village of Lai Trach vermicelli processing. Photo: Hai Tien.
Mr. Thang's family also has a family tradition of making cellophane noodles, and currently he can process over 2 tons of dried cellophane noodles every day. However, for nearly a month now, the weather has been constantly cloudy, sometimes sunny, sometimes dry, so he can only operate the machinery at 50% capacity. While working, Mr. Thang has to listen and choose according to the weather, but still more than 100kg of cellophane noodles get moldy because there is no sun to dry the noodles. However, Mr. Thang affirms that every sunny day, he has 1-2 tons of cellophane noodles to bring to the market, so that customers do not lack cellophane noodles to sell during Tet.
According to Mr. Quach Van Tan, Deputy Director of Lai Trach Vermicelli Processing Cooperative, the high price of vermicelli is also due to the high demand for consumption, because almost every family on the occasion of Lunar New Year has to buy at least 0.3 - 0.5 kg of vermicelli or more, especially in rural areas because vermicelli is easy to eat, easy to process into many stir-fried dishes, cooked or made into delicious spring rolls. Vermicelli is likened to Vietnamese rice, especially in vermicelli there is almost no sugar, starch and fat, very suitable for people on a diet, diabetics, hypertensive, cardiovascular...
The process of slicing and spreading vermicelli on racks to dry outdoors. Photo: Hai Tien.
Mr. Pham Van Thuc, Head of Lai Trach village, said that the whole village has more than 20 households producing cellophane noodles, operating under the cooperative model since 2017. If the weather is dry or sunny, the cooperative can process and supply more than 40 tons of cellophane noodles of all kinds to the market in just one day. Faced with the situation of high input material prices, households in the cooperative have determined that even if they break even, they still have to produce and supply enough to meet demand to retain customers.
Mr. Nguyen Van Hung, a trader specializing in supplying arrowroot starch to Lai Trach craft village, said that the price of raw materials for producing arrowroot vermicelli has increased because all the starch used to process arrowroot vermicelli is purchased from the northern mountainous provinces (Lao Cai, Lai Chau, Son La, Tuyen Quang, Cao Bang). However, this year, the area of arrowroot cultivation in these localities has seriously decreased, partly because in previous years the price of arrowroot tubers was too cheap, so people reduced the planting area, and partly because people in the northern mountainous provinces are promoting the conversion to growing fruit trees with higher economic value.
This year, the price of cellophane noodles in the Tet market has increased due to the increase in raw material prices. Photo: Hai Tien.
"The price of cassava vermicelli is expected to increase further in the coming time. However, according to the law of supply and demand, by 2024, the area of cassava cultivation will be expanded, and the supply of cassava starch will increase again. This year, any household that grows 1 mau (3,600m2) of cassava will definitely harvest around 1 billion VND," Mr. Hung affirmed.
Mr. Do Xuan Kinh, a member of Lai Trach Vermicelli Processing Cooperative, said that currently, vermicelli processing households in the village have all invested in mechanized production lines for heavy production stages, only the packaging and drying of vermicelli fibers must be done manually and depend on the weather. Therefore, every day, with only about 2 hours of sunlight, the whole village will have dozens of tons of vermicelli to sell to all provinces and cities nationwide.
Traders buy cellophane noodles to retail at rural markets. Photo: Hai Tien.
Mr. Nguyen Dinh Cau, Vice Chairman of Yen Phu Commune People's Committee informed that Lai Trach village was granted a certificate of recognition as "Traditional craft village of processing Lai Trach vermicelli in 2012" by Hung Yen Provincial People's Committee. To ensure the quality of vermicelli for consumers, every year, the commune coordinates with the Department of Agricultural, Forestry and Fishery Product Quality Management of the province to conduct surprise inspections and supervisions of craft establishments here.
"A delicious dong rieng vermicelli product must be made from 100% fresh, new, pure dong rieng starch and no chemicals are used in processing. If coloring is done to suit consumer tastes, only bitter candy juice or natural organic products can be used. At the same time, the vermicelli must be cooked just right, crispy, chewy, not sour, crumbly and not gritty," said Mr. Nguyen Van Thang, Director of Lai Trach Dong Rieng Vermicelli Processing Cooperative.
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