Businesses participating in Ho Chi Minh City’s price subsidized program have assured of adequate supply of goods during Tet Lunar New Year and have pledged not to increase prices during the holiday season.
The concerned businesses pledged not to increase prices at a meeting with the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Industry and Trade and the Food and Foodstuff Association of HCMC on December 6.
According to Le Thi Xuan Hoa, a representative of Saigon Beer Alcohol Beverage Company, they have increased by 17 percent their beer production and by 20 percent their canned beer production in the last three months, compared to the same period last year.
Saigon Beer has also pledged not to increase prices and assured of adequate supply during the coming Tet holiday season, of more than 1.2 billion litres of beer.
Huynh Khanh Hiep, deputy director of the HCMC Department of Industry and Trade, said the department is strengthening checks and management of price of goods during Tet.
The City's Department of Industry and Trade has set up inspection teams that will examine the quantity of goods to be sold in shops, as well as monitor shops listed under the price subsidized program.
The HCMC People's Committee has also asked relevant bodies to improve their surveillance and inspection of markets during and immediately after Tet Lunar New Year, beginning end January 2012.
The City People’s Committee has also set up 3,000 shops that will sell goods under the city’s price subsidized program.
Authorized bodies, under city guidance, will supervise consumer demands and supply of essential goods, aimed to prevent price hikes as well as speculation.
Price subsidies on essential goods for Tet began in June this year.
The program has been doing well in coping with the present inflation and increase in prices of commodities, according to the HCMC People's Committee.
Under the program this year, Tet goods account for 30-40 percent of the market demand, 20 percent higher than the amount during last holiday season.
