The Ho Chi Minh City Statistics Office has just announced data on the socio-economic situation in January 2025. This is also the peak shopping period, preparing for the Lunar New Year 2025 of the people in the city.

Accordingly, in the first month of this year, total retail sales of goods and consumer service revenue in Ho Chi Minh City reached VND107,996 billion, up 7.5% over the same period.

Of which, retail sales of goods reached VND53,717 billion, up 11.5% over the same period. Nearly 50% of the remaining total revenue came from accommodation and food (revenue of VND12,832 billion, up 21.6%), travel services (revenue of VND2,598 billion, up 17%) and other services (revenue of VND38,849 billion, up 1.6%).

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Shopping atmosphere during the Lunar New Year 2025 inside a supermarket in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Dao Phuong

Regarding retail sales of goods, groups of goods serving the main needs of people during the Lunar New Year increased compared to December 2024 such as: Food and foodstuffs (up 5.7%), household appliances and equipment (up 11.1%), cultural and educational items (up 14.1%).

However, some product groups had lower revenue compared to the last month of 2024 such as: Wood and construction materials (down 13.4%), means of transport (down 11.7%), precious stones, precious metals and products (down 1%), repair of cars, motorbikes and other motor vehicles (down 8.9%).

Ho Chi Minh City's market stabilization program continues to be effective, with businesses ensuring a continuous supply of goods to serve people before, during and after Tet.

Regarding transportation business, total revenue reached VND 41,217 billion, up 22.6% over the same period in 2024. Of which, passenger transport reached VND 1,817 billion, up 11.2% over the same period.

In the structure of passenger transport revenue, road transport accounts for 71.8%, railway accounts for 9.6% and inland waterway accounts for 2.4%.

Supermarkets are so crowded that customers can't even buy enough Tet goods after going there many times.

Supermarkets are so crowded that customers can't even buy enough Tet goods after going there many times.

The supermarket was so crowded that it took a long time to pay, so Mr. Tam and his wife (Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City) only bought a few items in advance. They planned to come back the next day to continue shopping for Tet.
La Vie mineral water was charged 67 billion VND in back taxes

La Vie mineral water was charged 67 billion VND in back taxes

Through inspection, Long An Provincial Tax Department determined that the total amount of tax and fees collected from La Vie Company is 66.7 billion VND, mainly environmental resource tax for the period 2016-2020.
In order to reduce food reserves, many sales systems only close on the first day of Tet.

In order to reduce food reserves, many sales systems only close on the first day of Tet.

In order to reduce the pressure of people shopping and stockpiling before Tet, almost all distribution systems have plans to operate continuously, only closing on the first day. Ho Chi Minh City will have more than 500 items discounted up to 80%.