HCM City: prices of essential goods falling

HCM City (VNA) - Prices of several essential goods in Ho Chi Minh City, especially steel, fertilizer and gas, have remarkably decreased thanks to sharp falls in world material and oil prices last week.

Steel prices fell to 20-21 million VND per tonnes compared to a record 22
million USD per tonne set in late July. The reduction was attributed to the
fact that the price of steel ingots in the world market plunged to 960 USD
per tonne from 1,100-1,200 USD.

The drop in world fertiliser prices helped cut the imported fertiliser price
by 500-2,000 VND per kg while the price of gas slipped 7,000-9,000 VND per
12-kg tank. Gas companies predicted that their prices will continue falling
in the next two weeks with a deeper reduction of 5,000 VND per tank.

The rice price in Ho Chi Minh City experienced a slight decrease of
between 500-1,500 VND per kg.

In an effort to stabilise prices of essential goods, supermarkets in Ho
Chi Minh City this month launched many attractive sale-off programmes. The
Coopmart chain is offering a 5-20 percent discount on 300 commodities,
including clothes, food and consumer goods, while its rival Citimart is
setting aside 100 products for promotional campaigns.-Enditem