On January 8, when we arrived at Binh village, Thach Hung ward, we were struck by the sight of rice paper drying all over the roads, especially on the planned residential roads that were still empty and had no residents.
Ms. Phan Thi Dao (born in 1993, living in Binh village) quickly dried and collected spring rolls on the street and said that this Tet, her family's production volume doubled compared to normal days.
Currently, she produces about 30,000 cakes a day. When the sun is favorable, she makes the cakes twice a day, early in the morning and at noon, to get enough sunlight.
“We don’t have to worry about the product’s output because there are traders who come to buy wholesale on the spot. On this occasion, we just hope for sunny weather to facilitate drying. If it rains and we can’t dry the products, we won’t be able to produce the cakes,” Ms. Dao shared.
According to Ms. Binh, rice paper from Binh village is consumed in all major cities and provinces in the country, especially in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Because of the traditional production for many years, it has a brand name, so traders have become familiar with the business, buying wholesale by large trucks right at the craft village and then selling it to all regions.
Mr. Le Trung Phuc (42 years old, living in Binh village) shared that his family has been in the business of making rice paper for more than 20 years. On normal days, his family makes about 30,000 - 40,000 rice paper, but during Tet, the output doubles, up to 60,000 rice paper.
To produce such a large quantity of cakes, Ms. Dao’s family, Mr. Phuc’s family and many other households in Thach Hung ward used a cake coating machine in the production process. Each machine cost about 100 million VND.
“On normal days, the price of nem 16, which means 10,000 leaves can be sold for 1.6 million VND. During this Tet holiday, the price has increased to 1.8 million to 1.9 million VND/010,000 leaves,” said Mr. Phuc.
According to Mr. Phuc, due to the high demand during Tet, his family had to hire 3 more workers, bringing the total number of workers to 10 for the family production facility to "race" to have enough goods to sell for Tet. Each worker is paid from 300,000 - 350,000 VND/day.
Mr. Nguyen Xuan Thai - Acting Chairman of Thach Hung Ward People's Committee - informed that the rice paper making profession of the people in Thach Hung Ward is a traditional profession that has existed for a long time. Thanks to this profession, many households have jobs and earn a good income.
Up to now, the whole ward has more than 120 households producing rice paper, mainly concentrated in Binh village. Rice paper making is creating jobs for more than 200 local workers. Revenue from rice paper production in the whole ward is estimated at more than 31 billion VND/year.
Since October 2021, the People's Committee of Ha Tinh province has decided to recognize and promulgate a plan to preserve and develop the traditional rice paper craft village of Binh village, Thach Hung.
