Strong increase in purchasing power
In the days leading up to the 2026 Binh Ngo Tet, Hon Son is not only bustling with boats carrying tourists to the island for vacation, but also busy with the hustle and bustle of the drying craft village. Under the golden sun, fresh dry sheets are dried evenly to be transported to major provinces and cities such as Can Tho, Dong Thap, Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi in time.
Mr. Ngo Van Truong (belonging to a dry production household in Hon Son) shared that purchasing power tends to increase sharply from the beginning of November and will last until Tet. Usually, near Tet, raw fish prices will increase according to demand, but the family does not increase selling prices too much, only fluctuating around 5,000 - 10,000 VND/kg if the supply is tense.
If the price increases too sharply, customers will be lost, the main goal is still to have enough goods to deliver to customers for Tet and people have more income," Mr. Truong said.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Be Nam (a dry production household in Hon Son), said that during Tet, customers mainly look to buy as gifts, so specialties such as dried snakehead fish with sugar and dried stingrays are leading in purchasing power.
Not only in neighboring provinces, but customers in distant places such as Ho Chi Minh City or Hanoi also order Tet dried fish as gifts. Despite the large purchasing power, the prices of dried fish are still maintained stably to maintain prestige with customers. Dried fish prices range from 180,000 - 280,000 VND/kg; dried squid alone costs from 500,000 VND/kg or more depending on size," Ms. Nam said.
Fresh fish creates a brand
To make Hon Son dried fish famous, local people always put the quality factor first. Raw fish must be fresh and delicious, pre-processed cleanly and dried on regularly washed nets.
With nearly 10 years of experience in the profession, Mr. Truong quickly stir-fried dried fish on the grill and confided: "The secret to good dried fish is that the fish must be fresh from the moment they are brought up from the boat, if it is stained, they will be removed immediately. When the weather just gets sunny, we take it out to dry immediately and must continuously stir-fry it to achieve the best quality. I just hope that from now until Tet it will be sunny and beautiful, and there will be more fish to bring so that people have more income to take care of their children's education and prepare for a warmer Tet.
Although orders increased sharply, Mr. Truong only received orders until about the 20th day of the twelfth lunar month and then stopped. The reason is that transportation services and fishermen are also on Tet holiday, and there is no fish source.
Similarly, dried fish at Ms. Nam's house is bought by the family from fishermen and self-processed. Quality dried fish must be selected from fresh and delicious fish right from the preliminary processing stage. Each batch of dried fish needs 2-4 "crispy" days to reach standard ripening. During that time, the craftsman must be on duty to stir dry continuously, ensuring that the dried fish absorbs sunlight evenly on both sides, the meat is chewy and retains its sweet taste.
Dried fish here are dried in a completely traditional way, without applying drying technology. In addition, the source of dried fish depends on fishermen's fishing, so more is done, less is done. As Tet approaches, the supply is somewhat reduced, so some types of dried fish are unsold, not enough to sell even though we renew them continuously every day," Ms. Nam said.
