Preventing salary inflation

Tired of rising prices

On July 5, in Da Nang City, the prices of some items increased compared to before. Visiting Thanh Vinh market to buy some food, spending nearly half an hour looking at prices at vegetable stalls, Ms. Tran Thi Ngoc (worker at Hoa Khanh Industrial Park, Lien Chieu District, Da Nang City) had to randomly choose some tomatoes, a few lemons, 10 packs of instant noodles... The price of tomatoes is at 28,000-30,000 VND/kg, an increase of about 8,000 VND/kg; the price of lemons is 25,000 VND/kg, an increase of 7,000 VND/kg compared to last month; instant noodles also increased by 3,000 VND/10 packs...

“Now, when going to the market, everything has increased from a few thousand to a few tens of thousands of dong per kilo. Salaries have increased slightly, but living expenses have increased many times the salary increase. Eating vegetables is still expensive, let alone buying a pound of meat for my children,” said Ms. Ngoc.

Consumers choose to buy food at a supermarket in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: XUAN TRUONG

The family of Le Thi Trang (30 years old, from Quang Binh) lives in a room of less than 15 square meters in Hoa Khanh Bac ward, Lien Chieu district, Da Nang city. All family expenses depend on her husband's salary, about 8 million VND/month. With this salary, even "frugally" spending is not enough when the family has 2 small children. "Every month, the money for food, diapers, milk, electricity and water is spent completely, there is no money left. My husband works hard, there are days when he only cooks a bowl of cold rice mixed with instant noodles all day," Trang said.

For the HCMC market, many items at retail markets and grocery stores have also increased in price for the past few weeks. Ms. Phuong Thi Oanh (working at Tan Tao Industrial Park, Binh Tan District) said that cooking oil of all kinds increased by 3,000-5,000 VND/liter, chicken eggs increased by about 4,000 VND/dozen, vegetables of all kinds increased by 2,000-5,000 VND/kg, depending on the type. Each time going to the market, it costs an additional 20,000-40,000 VND compared to a few months ago.

Mr. Mai Van Quynh (residing on National Highway 1A, Binh Chanh District) shared that food prices at retail markets have also increased significantly. For example, flying fish costs 80,000 VND/kg, an increase of about 20,000 VND/kg compared to last month; pork belly without ribs costs 160,000 VND/kg, an increase of about 10,000 VND/kg; queen guava bought wholesale at large warehouses costs 190,000 VND/10kg, an increase of 70,000 VND/10kg...

“Every little bit increases, causing the total monthly expenses to increase significantly, which puts a lot of pressure on workers like us,” Mr. Quynh said.

Supermarket, wholesale market: good price commitment

Mr. Tran Van Vu, Director of the Department of Statistics of Da Nang City, said that Da Nang City has directed all sectors to simultaneously implement solutions to control prices. The focus is on controlling from the grassroots level: markets, supermarkets, shops, and stores are required to post prices and follow the posted prices. “The Department of Statistics of Da Nang City has developed a plan to deploy in July with 14 managers and 32 investigators to go to markets and supermarkets to check and closely monitor market prices for 3 consecutive months. Other forces such as the Department of Industry and Trade and the Department of Finance will coordinate. With such a force coming down to check continuously, small traders and business people will not dare to increase prices,” said Mr. Vu.

Consumers choose to buy food at AEON supermarket, Tan Phu district, Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: XUAN TRUONG

According to information from retail systems such as MM Mega Market, Satra, Saigon Co.op..., many large-scale summer promotion programs are being implemented, with attractive prices. In particular, the highest discount is up to 50% for food, consumer goods, cosmetics. In addition, some items are discounted from 70% - 80%... Besides, wholesale markets in Ho Chi Minh City such as Binh Dien, Thu Duc, Hoc Mon, Binh Tay are also committed to having good price policies, keeping prices stable for consumers.

Discussing the recent price fluctuations, representatives of wholesale markets specializing in supplying vegetables, fruits and food in Ho Chi Minh City admitted that these were only some items that did not arrive in time or were affected by the weather; most of the items supplied at the market were at good prices. For example, at Hoc Mon wholesale market, the prices of chayote, Chinese cabbage, cabbage, and radish were stable at around 6,000-9,000 VND/kg; carrots 14,000 VND/kg; beets, okra, and bok choy 10,000 VND/kg; tangerines 25,000-30,000 VND/kg; rambutans 25,000 VND/kg; pork chops 80,000 VND/kg; pork belly without ribs 115,000 VND/kg...

In addition, the management boards of some traditional markets such as Hoa Hung (District 10), Ben Thanh (District 1), An Dong (District 5) shared that traders always strive to have the best prices, sharing profits with consumers. Ms. Nguyen Loan, a trader at Hoa Hung market (District 10), confirmed that customers increasingly prefer to shop at supermarkets and shopping malls because of the cool air conditioning, neat and clean shelves, etc.

“It is not easy to retain loyal customers who still like to go to traditional markets, so we have to make more efforts: selling fresh, quality products at reasonable prices. Occasionally, the vendors give customers some onions, cilantro, and a few chili peppers… That way, customers will be happy and will come back to us,” Ms. Loan shared.

Mr. Nguyen Anh Duc, General Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Union of Trading Cooperatives (Saigon Co.op), Chairman of the Vietnam Retailers Association, said that the consumer stimulus promotion programs launched by Ho Chi Minh City contribute to increasing purchasing power, stabilizing prices, and helping consumers have the opportunity to access goods at good prices. Saigon Co.op has been offering many great incentives for buyers.

For example, the Co.op private label festival with more than 1,000 products discounted up to 50% or reduced to only 5,000 VND/product; the program to celebrate the International Day of Cooperatives - Accompanying OCOP directly discounted up to 25% for OCOP products of local enterprises and national cooperatives (smooth honey peanut butter, lotus seed heart tea, Can Gio sun-dried pineapple fish, black brown rice, instant coffee, many vegetables, tubers, and fruits discounted 15%)... The program "Freely buy - Compete to shop" with discounts up to 54% or buy 1 get 1 free, applied to food products, chemicals, utensils and clothing...

• Mr. NGUYEN NGUYEN PHUONG, Deputy Director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Industry and Trade:

Stimulate consumption, monitor prices

The promotional event focusing on the 2024 Ho Chi Minh City “Shopping Season” (divided into 2 phases, taking place from June 15 to September 15 and from November 15 to December 31) is expected to help Ho Chi Minh City achieve its dual goals of increasing total retail sales of goods and consumer service revenue, while controlling inflation and ensuring social security...

The program is widely deployed to production and business enterprises in the area. There are about 10,000 merchants participating in sales, with over 55,000 promotional programs in the fields of trade, tourism, banking services, payment intermediaries, transportation... In both of these periods, merchants are eligible for discounts of up to 100%.

In addition, the large-scale market stabilization program is also focused on by the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Industry and Trade throughout the year. To avoid "price jumps", the Department of Industry and Trade strengthens coordination with the Ho Chi Minh City Market Management Department and related units to review price listings and origin of goods...

• Ms. NGUYEN THI BICH VAN, Communications Director of Central Retail Group Vietnam:

Guarantee preferential prices for customers

We strive to increase benefits and sell the best prices to consumers. Currently, the GO! Big C supermarket chain is selling over 2,000 products at preferential prices, lasting from now until the end of the year. This is also the group's strategy in realizing efforts to accompany the Government and ministries and branches to control inflation, contribute to stimulating consumer demand, and increase the number of customers coming to shop at the chain of stores.

With a diverse range of products, from fresh food, vegetables, fruits to fast-moving consumer goods such as spices, confectionery, milk, frozen food, personal care products, laundry products, etc. GO!, Big C commits to having prices cheaper than the market within a radius of 10km. At the same time, Central Retail Group also maintains the "Early market discount" program, with an additional 10% discount on all fresh food products: meat, fish, fresh seafood, vegetables, fruits (applicable from the time the supermarket opens until 10am every day; applicable from Monday to Friday every week).

• Mr. PHAM ANH VU: Communications Director of Viet Tourism Joint Stock Company:

Large-scale price stabilization policy is needed.

The impact of prices directly affects customers' wallets. For Viet Travel's groups, tour prices remain stable, meals are still full, and are not "cut or trimmed" due to price increase pressure. To get a good price, we had to negotiate contracts with partners many months in advance, even years ago. However, in the past few days, partners have informed us about price increases for some items. Thus, it can be implicitly understood that as soon as the old contract ends, new contracts will have new prices.

The domestic tourism industry has already faced many difficulties due to the impact of airfares, now the "additional blow" of rising commodity prices "following" wage increases has led to difficulties on top of difficulties. Should the State have a large-scale price stabilization policy, with the participation of all ministries and sectors, so that the "comprehensive economic sector" can increase its appeal, people have more opportunities to explore the beautiful landscapes of Vietnam, and stimulate domestic consumption?

THI HONG - XUAN QUYNH

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/ngan-chan-tinh-trang-thoi-gia-theo-luong-post747991.html