In recent days, Hanoi is experiencing a period of intense heat, many areas recorded a temperature of nearly 40 degrees Celsius, in some places exceeding 40 degrees Celsius. Prolonged hot weather has increased people's demand for cooling down, leading to the situation that many small shops and grocery stores fall into the "ice-burning" situation.
At noon on May 27, Mr. Nguyen Van Anh (Tu Liem, Hanoi) said that he had just experienced a rather unexpected situation when looking to buy ice.
According to Mr. Anh, his family's refrigerator was broken, while waiting for the unit to transport the new refrigerator, he had to buy ice to preserve food and use temporarily.
I went to 4 grocery stores near my house but all received a shake of the head. Normally, small ice bags are about 3,000 VND, large bags are about 10,000 VND and can be bought immediately. But today, the stores all said they are out of stock, only keeping a little to serve sugarcane juice shops or personal needs" - Mr. An shared.
Also encountering a similar situation, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Tuan (Cau Giay, Hanoi) said that he intended to buy ice to eat sweet soup with his family, but had to go to many places to find it.
I thought buying ice was a simple matter, so I didn't prepare in advance. But after going through 3 stores, I still couldn't buy it. I was quite surprised because I had never encountered this situation before" - Mr. Tuan said.
According to records, in many areas of Hanoi, small grocery stores often have customers asking to buy ice in the time frame from late morning to afternoon. Many store owners said that consumption has increased much higher than usual days.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoa - owner of a grocery store in Tu Liem (Hanoi) - said that in recent days the number of people buying ice has increased sharply.
In recent days, customers have been asking to buy ice continuously. I have proactively increased the amount of imports from the supplier, but by noon it was all out. I have also contacted to import more, but the supplier has not had time to meet the demand" - Ms. Hoa said.
According to Ms. Hoa, although demand has increased sharply, selling prices remain unchanged.
Prices have not increased because this demand is temporary, mainly due to the prolonged heat wave. On normal days, this item is not selling so strongly. In case the heat wave continues, demand for cooling items such as ice, soft drinks or cooling equipment may still increase in the coming days" - Ms. Hoa said.
