HCM City (VNS/VNA) – Ho Chi Minh City’sDepartment of Industry and Trade has pledged to help businesses stabilisemarket prices following hikes in gasoline and electricity prices. 

The price of consumer goods in the city in Aprilrose slightly compared to the previous month, with food prices rising by 0.1 percentand rice products increasing by 0.6 percent compared to the previousmonth. 

The month saw a drop in consumption of majorcommodity products such as pork (fall of 3.36 percent); fresh poultry (0.66 percent);fresh seafood (1.79 percent); vegetables (1.91 percent); and fruits of allkinds (0.06 percent) over the previous month.

However, consumption of other commodity productsrose, including beef (by 0.17 percent); confectionary (0.35 percent); andcocoa, coffee and tea (0.52 percent) over the previous month, according to thedepartment. 

Food prices have remained stable due to theplentiful supply of fresh food and vegetables since the beginning of the year,partly because of the city’s price stabilisation programme. 

The gasoline price went up twice in April, whichaffected transport fees, including trains (up by 2.67 percent) and passengercoaches (by 0.56 percent), according to the department. 

Nguyen Anh Duc, permanent deputygeneral director of Saigon Co.op, said the company has been workingwith suppliers to ensure price stability after the electricity and gasolineprice increases. 

Sai Gon Co.op, Co.opmart, Co.opXtra, Co.opfoodare running promotions on essential goods to stimulate purchases. SaigonCo.op is also asking suppliers not to increase prices unless it is necessary.

“The suppliers must prove that increases ininput costs directly affect the cost of producing the products,” Duc said.

Other retailers in the city said the increase inthe price of products and services must be based on the market's purchasingpower. 

With the current weak purchasing power,distributors and suppliers must work together to support market pricestability.

At traditional markets, despite recent hikes inpetrol and power prices, the prices of some essential goods such as fresh foodand frozen processed food rose only slightly.

A resident in District 9 said that in the pastfew weeks, the prices of some vegetables and fruits had increasedslightly. 

Sellers at traditional markets said they had nochoice but to increase the price of products to compensate for losses caused byhigher gasoline and power prices. 

The industrial production index for the foodprocessing as well as food and beverage industries increased by 1.4 percent inthe first four months of the year. 

In April, petrol retail prices rose twice for atotal of 3,000 VND per litre. In addition, the 8.36 percent hike inelectricity price that began on March 20 will affect the commodity market.

The Government has asked the Ministry ofIndustry and Trade to work with the General Statistics Office to review theimpact of the power price hike.

In 2002, the city began its price stabilisationprogramme for essential food and foodstuff during festival seasons suchas Tet (Lunar New Year) when demand rises dramatically. 

Beginning in 2010, the programme was implementedthroughout the year and was expanded to stabilise the prices of four commoditygroups: food and foodstuffs, dairy products, essential drugs and schoolsupplies.

HCM City is only able to meet 20-30 percent ofdemand of daily food consumption, with the rest transported from otherprovinces as well as imported from other countries.

Retail sales of consumer goods and services inHCM City in April totalled 94.91 trillion VND (4.07 billion USD), up 2.3 percentover March and 14.4 percent over the same period last year, according to thedepartment. 

The city’s services and trade activitiesincreased in April due to the national holidays Hung Kings Commemoration Day,Reunification Day and May Day.-VNS/VNA