Cold rain, food prices skyrocket

(Baonghean)Along with the cold weather, housewives have been witnessing price increases of many types of food over the past few days. The reason given is that the cold weather has caused goods to be scarce, causing input prices to skyrocket, 20-50%, even 100%.

At Hung Dung market, beef tenderloin price increased from 200,000 VND to 230,000 VND/kg; chicken price also increased earlier than every year (every year it usually increases on the occasion of Tet). Chicken price increased from 110,000 VND in November, now to 135,000 - 140,000 VND/kg, even in some places the price of chicken reached 150,000 VND/kg. According to traders, chicken price increased due to the scarcity of supply because the country banned the import of chicken from China. Ms. Hoa, a chicken seller at the market, shared: "We now have to collect chicken from many sources, with this scarcity, the price of chicken will increase even more from now until Tet, especially roosters".



Cold rain, green vegetable prices increase.

Not only meat and fish, but also green vegetable prices have increased sharply due to the cold weather, cold rain, so many types of vegetables cannot grow, causing a shortage of supply. A bunch of chrysanthemum greens previously cost 500-1,000 VND, now costs 2,000 VND, an increase of 100%; similarly, mustard greens have increased from 2,000 to 5-6,000 VND/bunch. Vegetables such as lettuce, chrysanthemum greens, cabbage, kohlrabi, spinach, watercress... are too expensive, so sellers divide them into smaller portions. A hot pot that normally only costs 10,000 VND is enough for vegetables, but now the price has increased 2-3 times. A saleswoman shared: "We know that high prices are difficult to sell, but because the price is already high, we cannot bear the loss. We stand in the cold rain and still sell at a loss, so why do we do business?" The saleswoman sitting next to us added: "My family grows 1 sao of vegetables, but we have planted them several times and spent a lot of seeds but they still do not grow. It is so cold and rainy!"

There is only a little over a month left until Lunar New Year, while the demand for food increases every day. If the cold and rainy weather continues, consumers will certainly have to buy vegetables at even higher prices. Speaking to us, a representative of the Department of Industry and Trade said: "Green vegetables depend on the weather, so it is difficult to have a plan to stabilize prices." Explaining the massive price increase of most food and foodstuffs, many traders said that near Tet, goods always increase more than during the year due to the sharp increase in year-end consumer demand, combined with the prolonged cold, making many green vegetables scarce.

However, in reality, many items that are not affected by the cold rain are still raised indiscriminately and this price increase makes consumers worry that the prices of goods will increase sharply during the Tet holiday. Therefore, on the one hand, relevant agencies need to strengthen price posting inspection and sell goods at the listed prices at the markets; on the other hand, there must be management and regulation to limit speculation, hoarding, and sudden price increases at the end of the year, affecting the interests of consumers.

Viet Phuong