Dragon Boat Festival Market: Online shopping dominates
During the Dragon Boat Festival, duck meat and flowers and fruits for ancestor worship are in higher demand than usual. In particular, the trend of online shopping is dominant with a variety of services from preliminary processing to pre-processing, meeting market demand.
Duck meat consumption is strong
At around 4 pm on June 9, Ms. Tran Thi Mai Lan in Trung Tien block, Hung Dung ward (Vinh city) brought 2 ducks to the market to hire them to have their feathers cleaned. At Hung Dung market, there are nearly a dozen shops that provide services for butchering chickens and ducks, but none of them accepted Ms. Lan's "order". A small trader specializing in selling and butchering chickens and ducks said that the reason for refusing to do so was because of overload, so she only accepts to butcher chickens and ducks for customers who buy on the spot, not chickens and ducks brought from other places.
“These days, customers buy more ducks than chickens, so the time to clean the feathers is longer. Moreover, we also received an order of 30 cleaned ducks for a restaurant yesterday, to be picked up this afternoon, so we had to refuse “outside customers” to deliver on time,” said Ms. Nguyen Thi Hien, a small trader and service provider of cleaning chickens and ducks. The price for cleaning chickens and ducks has not changed, 10,000 VND/chicken and 15,000 VND/duck.
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From June 9, which is the 4th day of the 5th lunar month, at some markets in Vinh city, the market for goods serving the Doan Ngo festival has seen a slight increase in price and consumption, mainly food items such as duck meat, chicken, fruits and some traditional cakes. By the morning of June 10, at many traditional markets, the number of fresh ducks and ready-made ducks has increased, anticipating the increased demand from buyers.
Not only in markets but also in retail outlets that normally do not sell duck meat, on the occasion of Doan Ngo Festival, this item is also added, helping to increase the supply. Ms. Nguyen Thi Dao - a small trader in Nam Dan district said that she specializes in collecting vegetables, tubers, fruits, fish, chicken and duck eggs from Nam Dan to sell in the area near Hung Dung market (Vinh city).
Normally, Ms. Dao only sells chickens and ducks when customers place orders, but on the occasion of the Dragon Boat Festival, understanding the market demand, she also bought 20 ducks and prepared them for sale. “By the end of the morning, the 20 ducks were almost sold out, with only 4 remaining. I sell prepared ducks and offer them as a promotion along with vegetables and spices such as lemongrass, ginger, turmeric, onions, etc. and mainly sell to regular customers,” Ms. Dao said.
At Quan Lau market (Vinh city), Coi market (Hung Loc)... the number of duck meat consumed increased higher than usual days, the shops selling and butchering services were crowded with people waiting to get "goods" from early morning. Recorded at many markets, retail points and mini supermarkets, the price of duck meat did not fluctuate much compared to normal days. The price of ducks weighing 1.5 - 1.8 kg/bird is commonly from 180 thousand VND/bird; the price of white ducks (industrial ducks) is lower, at 170 thousand VND/bird. Particularly, black and brown grass ducks weighing about 1.2 - 1.4 kg/bird fluctuate from 140 - 150 thousand VND/bird.
In addition to duck meat, other items such as fruits and candies served on the offerings tray on the Dragon Boat Festival are also quite busy.
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Increase online shopping
In addition to traditional markets and retail outlets, the trend of online shopping is increasingly dominant. Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuy in Trung Do ward (Vinh city), a small trader specializing in selling home-made processed foods, said that on the occasion of the Dragon Boat Festival, the number of customers ordering online doubled compared to normal days. Ms. Thuy has an online "stall" on Facebook, since June 9, customers have placed orders for early delivery on the morning of June 10. Many customers placed orders before 7 a.m. on June 10, so she had to order the delivery service the night before and wake up early to prepare for the shipper to pick up the goods and deliver them to the customers.
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“The most popular items are pre-cooked duck meat and pre-cooked duck dishes such as duck stewed with star fruit, duck stewed with bamboo shoots, and steamed duck with duck blood pudding. In addition, there are rice cakes, sticky rice cakes, and pig skin cakes. I also sell areca nuts, betel leaves, and flowers for offerings. Yellow chrysanthemums and lotus flowers are also popular,” said Ms. Thuy.
In terms of price, food sold online is cheaper than in markets, direct sales points such as supermarkets, organic food stores, etc. Some social media accounts advertise cleaned duck meat for 130 - 150 thousand VND/bird weighing 1.8 - 2.5 kg. In supermarkets and organic food stores, the price of duck meat is 10 - 20 thousand VND/bird higher than the market price, with a commitment to origin, ensuring food hygiene and safety, and selling processed spices such as bamboo shoots, sour plums, etc.
In Nghe An, the custom of offering offerings on the occasion of the Duanwu Festival is common in the plain districts; and the habit of eating duck meat on this occasion is common in most localities. According to the explanation of the elders, in addition to continuing the ancient customs of their ancestors, the 5th day of the 5th lunar month is also the time when the spring rice harvest is just finished, the households raising ducks in the fields take advantage of the food sources of the fields after the harvest, so the duck meat is the fattest and most delicious. Moreover, this is also the time when the sun often heats up, duck meat with its cool, sweet taste is considered a food that helps to cool down, so its consumption is also increased.
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