Consumers save spending
For more than a month, the green vegetable market has continuously increased in price, many items have increased by 20 - 30%, even double. Recorded at Ward 2 market (Phu Loi ward, Can Tho city), a trader said that the price of imported vegetables increased sharply, forcing them to adjust the selling price by 5,000 - 10,000 VND/kg. Green cabbage and mustard are currently priced at 30,000 VND/kg; pennywort at 50,000 VND; crispy lettuce was once priced at 100,000 VND/kg and then reduced to 80,000 VND; green onions at 50,000 VND/kg. According to this trader, the prolonged high price level has caused a significant decrease in purchasing power.
At Huynh Huu Nghia market (My Tu commune, Can Tho city), many types of vegetables have increased by 50%. Pumpkin prices have now skyrocketed from 30,000 VND/kg to 60,000 VND/kg, but "buyers are thinner than before", a trader shared.
At supermarkets, vegetable prices also recorded a slight increase. Mr. Nguyen Hoang Duoc - Head of the Fresh Food Group, Co.opmart Soc Trang, said that the vegetable group increased by about 4 - 5% last week. "Although import prices have increased, we have kept prices stable and implemented a number of discount programs at the end of the day to support customers," Mr. Duoc informed.
For consumers, vegetable prices are "scaling", making shopping to calculate carefully. Ms. Dung in Soc Trang ward (Can Tho city) said that she used to buy vegetables at the market near her home but recently switched to buying at supermarkets because there were price lists and many promotional programs. "Many days I wait until the evening to go to the supermarket to buy vegetables at a better price," she said.
Ms. Tho in My Xuyen ward (Can Tho city) said that on the morning of November 28, she bought vegetables to cook sour soup, only 1 herb with a few sticky rice grains, a few spices for more than 100,000 VND not including fish. "Before, I grew some types of leafy vegetables at home, so now I limit going to the market to buy vegetables to save costs," said Ms. Tho.
Farmers have not yet benefited
In contrast to rising retail prices, many farmers are still struggling due to harsh weather that has caused productivity to drop sharply.
Mr. Lam Van Hung, a vegetable grower in My Xuyen ward (Can Tho city), said that prolonged storms caused vegetables to be waterlogged and died a lot. During the recent harvest of 600 kg of onions, although he sold them for 32,000 VND/kg, he still did not make much profit because the output decreased sharply and the cost increased. More than 500m2 of his flower chickens were also severely damaged, each batch only collected 8 - 9 kg, while previously it reached 20 kg. "The price of chives is now 35,000 VND/kg but there are places to sell them," he sighed.
Also in this locality, Mr. Kim Hien is harvesting 2,000m2 of green onions but the yield has decreased by 1/3. "Previously, each bed was 30 kg, now there are only 20 kg because the water foam leaves had to be completely removed," he said.
Ms. Lam Thi Han in Tai Van commune (Can Tho city) said that 4,000m2 of vegetables were deeply flooded. "When the water is about to recede, the water enters the peak; the green mustard, squid, and fresh squid are also waterlogged. Water spinach is currently purchased by traders for nearly 20,000 VND/kg, even bad vegetables that were previously difficult to sell are now priced but have no place to sell," she said. Ms. Han said that she had just planted a new vegetable crop, but heavy rain combined with high tides caused flooding, killing everything.
According to many traders, the sharp increase in green vegetable prices in recent times is due to the impact of storms and high tides, leading to some vegetable areas being flooded, damaged, and waterlogged. While some places are currently flooded and cannot start a new crop.
According to updated statistics up to November 6 of the Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection, prolonged heavy rain combined with storms and high tides has caused serious flooding in many localities in the South. Of which, An Giang province has about 70.7 hectares of vegetables; Ho Chi Minh City has about 400 hectares of rice and vegetables; Can Tho City has about 577.1 hectares of vegetables affected.
