Many enterprises said that the pressure of increased goods prices is getting higher. The prices of essential goods such as noodles, cooking oil, sugar, milk, etc have been adjusted under the pressure of sharply increased gasoline and oil prices.
The prices of essential goods increase at the same time
Recently, many instant products of Acecook Vietnam have also increased their prices by 10% after many years of keeping prices. In previous years, the cost of raw materials, fuel, and transportation have all increased but Acecook Vietnam has made efforts to remain the price. But in the current situation, the business cannot compensate.
The cooking oil now has a stronger increase level, with some brands up to 135% more than before the pandemic. Particularly, the group of cosmetics has increased more slightly but has also increased by 2 – 10% depending on the type after the Tet holiday. Dairy products increased by about 5%.
The cooking oil now has a stronger increase level, with some brands up to 135% more than before the pandemic.
The director of an enterprise specializing in brewing materials and drinking water also said that from mid-April, they will adjust the selling price with a 25% increase compared to the current list price.
“Being aware of the rising prices of many items, agents want to keep the goods to extend the time of selling at old prices but there are almost no goods. The manufacturer said that they are under high pressure of increased prices, ” an essential goods distributor in Tan Binh District said.
The prices of many products increase more at the end of March
Talking to Youth newspaper, Mr. Tran Viet Anh – Vice President of Ho Chi Minh City Rubber and Plastic Association, said that in the past, the price of raw plastic materials was only about 1,000 USD/tonne; at the time of the pandemic, it was 800 – 900 USD/tonne; but it has now reached about 1,300 USD/tonne and is still rising according to the forecast.
Previously, enterprises sold hundreds of thousands of tonnes, but currently, only sell 10,000 – 30,000 tonnes. According to Mr. Viet, when the price of raw materials increases by 30%, with supply difficulties, the cost of output will be impacted. However, the delay of this impact will be about a month, so around the end of March or at the beginning of April, there will be an increase in output prices.
Mr. Nguyen Thanh Trung – Chairman of the Board of Ton Dong A Joint Stock Company – also said that the increased price of gasoline had an immediate impact on the transportation costs of this enterprise and the fuel costs also increased. Besides, some items have increased the new offer price compared to January and February by up to 20-30%.
According to Mr. Trung, the enterprise is producing reserve materials, so at the end of March and April, the prices of the products will be in line with the prices of raw materials.
It is time to pay special attention to inflation
According to Mr. Nguyen Duc Thanh, Director of the Vietnam Center for Economic and Strategic Studies (VESS), the fluctuations in fuel prices will undoubtedly spread to other commodity groups.
In the effort to control inflation, Vietnam’s macro-policy capacity is no longer large. Vietnam’s fiscal policy has spent quite a lot on COVID-19 prevention. Monetary policy is also not much, inflation is quite high. Inflation above 1%/month is a sign of macro instability.
“The National Bank may consider separating goods suffering from global price fluctuations that we cannot control from the basket of goods. This will make it easier to calculate how much domestic commodity prices increase due to monetary policy, and when monetary tightening is needed, ” Mr.Thanh said. Meanwhile, regarding enterprises, Mr. Thanh suggested that they should actively monitor to regulate the supply of raw materials.
Experts from HSBC Bank also believe that rising fuel prices surely have a direct impact on consumer prices. Inflation increased by 1.4% in February compared to the same period last year, mainly due to the increase in transportation costs by over 15% compared to the same period last year.
The increased price of gasoline had an immediate impact on transportation costs.
“Vietnamese policymakers still need to pay special attention to the risks of inflation because rising commodity prices are on large scale, not just around fuel,” experts from HSBC said.