Vietnamese housewives trapped in the eye of the price storm

As prices of goods and services continue to rise in Vietnam – spare a thought for Vietnamese housewives.

One such person is Ngoc who noted her spending was up by one million dong in December 2009 compared to previous months. She’s now thinking about leasing out part of her house just to cover cost rises.

Every month, Ngoc normally spends just over five million dong on her family of four members. However, she spent 6.7 million dong in December. Gas prices increased by 50,000 dong per tank, her spending on rice increased by 110,000 dong, and on food by 300,000 dong. Besides, spending on drinks and spices also increased by 200,000 dong, and dairy products for the children increased by 100,000 dong.

“I know that everything is getting more expensive, but I could not imagine that I would need to spend another million dong,” Ngoc said, adding that her lunch at com bui (street rice shop) has also become 3,000 dong more costly.

Nguyen Thu Phuong in Tan Phu District in HCM City, complained that the biggest worry for her is how to arrange enough money to purchase milk for her 7-month old daughter.

She said that since the daughter was born, she has to cut down many kinds of expenses to save money to purchase dairy products. In previous months, the spending on milk was 800,000 dong a month, while it increased to 900,000 dong in December. “I yesterday heard that dairy products increased by 10 percent more,” she complained.

Phuong has decided to buy only cheap dairy brands and limit spending on each meal to than 35,000 dong.

Meanwhile, economists have warned prices will keep escalating further towards Tet which will come in February.

According to Saigon Tiep Thi newspaper, from January 1, 2010, Hancofood raised sale prices by 10 percent while Mead Johnson brand dairy products have increased by 7-9 percent since the same day.

Supermarkets have announced price increases of between five and fifteen percent for confectionary and wine products

Since January 1, 2010, the retail gas price has increased by 5,000 dong per 12 kilo tank to 270,000 dong per tank.

Since mid December 2009, Vinh Thanh Dat and Ba Huan, the egg distributors have raised sale prices by 150-200 dong per egg.

VietNamNet/SGTT, Dan tri

Tags: Vietnam economy news