Goods volume has been doubled or tripled during Tet month. Purchasing power last weekend rocketed up 2-3 times versus previous days. The most purchased were essential items with fresh and processed food accounting for 60 percent.

Saigon Food Company reported that they have expected to provide 550 tons of Tet food mainly processed items, up 10 percent over the same period last year.

Eighty percent commodities shelved at Aeon shopping mall in Tan Phu District are made-in-Vietnam, the rest 20 percent are imported items, mostly fashion products and processed food items of Aeon.

The supply of goods for Tet is very abundant with steady prices at Lotte Mart trade center in Tan Binh District, where sells 25,000 articles. Of these Vietnamese goods occupy 95 percent. The center’s revenue increased to VND1.2 billion (US$56,000) a day at the last weekend from VND600-700 million in normal days.

Ms. Hong has also examined a number of other supermarkets and grocery stores under the program and found that they have been all displaying subsidized products as per pledges they had committed. However some were found placing goods in confusion.

Deputy Chairwoman Hong instructed the city Department of Industry and Trade to work with agencies to continue inspecting supermarkets and stores in arranging separate shelves for subsidized products. They must be labeled with the program’s logo to make it easy-to-see for consumers.

Peak of Tet trading season will end in two weeks, businesses should keep a close eye on the purchasing power to supply goods sufficiently and timely and ensure prices under control during pre-Tet days and Tet holidays, she added.

Besides organizing promotional programs, distributors should work with suppliers to provide big discounts for essential products in days near Tet, she said.

Any difficulty should be reported to market and trade agencies to ensure smooth distribution of subsidized commodities and steady prices.

(Source: SGGP)