Doomsday market in Ho Chi Minh City

The Lunar New Year (May 5th of the lunar calendar) this year falls at a time when Ho Chi Minh City is implementing social distancing according to Directive 15 of the Prime Minister. Therefore, the market for fruits, vegetables and offerings is also more gloomy because people limit going to the market to shop.

The items serving the Tet holiday market are quite rich and diverse, but there are no buyers. On June 14 (May 5 of the lunar calendar), recorded at Thu Duc markets, Phuoc Long B market, Hiep Binh Phuoc market (Thu Duc city), Ben Thanh market (District 1)… fruit markets on the occasion This year’s Dragon Boat Festival is quite diverse. Small businesses prepare carefully, import goods early with a variety of fresh and eye-catching fruits. Prices of fruits are not much different from weekdays. Specifically, lychee 35 – 40,000 VND/kg; mangosteen 60 -70,000 VND/kg; longan cage 80,000 VND/kg; dragon fruit 15 – 20,000 VND/kg, rambutan 20 – 25,000 VND/kg… Fruits and vegetables serving the Lunar New Year market in Ho Chi Minh City are quite rich and diverse. Nguyen Thi Le, a small trader at Thu Duc market, said that this year the epidemic was continuous, so she did not dare to import goods to sell for fear of low purchasing power. Last year, on the days of preparing for the Lunar New Year, she imported about 500-700 kg of fruits for sale, but this year, Ms. Le only dared to import about 300 kg of fruits. However, selling all day yesterday 13/6 and this morning June 14, there are still many goods. The reason is that because Ho Chi Minh City is implementing social distancing, people are less likely to go to the market to shop on the occasion of the Lunar New Year. Every occasion on the occasion of the Lunar New Year, besides the fruits of glutinous rice wine, the offering tray of Ho Chi Minh City people also has an indispensable product that is ú ash cake. This type of cake is sold quite a lot at traditional markets with prices from 50,000-150,000 VND/dozen depending on the type of filling. In addition to fruits, fresh flowers are also items that customers choose to buy a lot during the Lunar New Year. According to small traders, this year because of the epidemic, flowers imported to the wholesale market are not much, the price of flowers today is also higher than before by 5 – 10,000 VND / bunch depending on the type. Specifically, yellow chrysanthemum flowers are priced at about 25,000 VND/bundle; auspicious 40 – 50,000 VND/bundle, 5,000 coins/cotton; lilies 70-100,000 VND/bundle (10 flowers)… Meanwhile, typical items serving the Doan Ngo New Year market such as: ash cake, little cake, water drifting tea, etc., although sold quite a lot, the purchasing power is not high because of the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic. . Although there were few buyers, compared to last year, the prices of these items were also adjusted to increase because the source of goods to the market was not much. Specifically, the price of ash cake with a retail filling is 10,000 VND/piece, and the price of bun without filling is 5,000 VND/piece. According to small traders at Phuoc Binh market (Thu Duc city), the price of banh ú this year has nearly doubled compared to last year. For banh ú with 100,000 VND/dozen fillings, 12 pieces are wrapped in dong leaves, while bamboo leaves are cheaper, only 50,000 VND/dozen. In addition, this year, small cakes do not appear, the reason is that due to the ban on mass gatherings, bakers cannot pack small cakes because it requires a lot of people to make them. In Ho Chi Minh City, Bac Giang lychee products are sold quite a lot, but there are also no buyers because people are tightening spending during the epidemic season. According to folk beliefs, Tet Doan Ngo (May 5th of the lunar calendar) is a Tet holiday that “kills insects”. Tet Doan Ngo has the custom of eating sticky rice wine (for worms in drunken people) and then eating sour fruit (to kill dead insects). Therefore, sticky rice wine, ú ash cake and fruits… are indispensable offerings on this day. According to small traders, the situation of buying and selling on the occasion of the Lunar New Year is quite slow this year. Due to the epidemic, people have limited spending and tightened shopping because employees are being temporarily laid off and rotated, leading to a decrease in income. This year, the price of fruit products did not increase to stimulate people’s shopping demand. The price of fresh flowers in Ho Chi Minh City only increased slightly because the supply of flowers from the provinces to Ho Chi Minh City decreased sharply due to the impact of the epidemic. Many people take advantage of going to the market early in the Lunar New Year, and both sellers and buyers follow the principle of wearing masks to prevent epidemics. All kinds of ash cakes, little cakes, water drifting tea… are being sold at the markets. The meat stalls only sold out more than usual, but there was no sudden increase. Seafood products are also not crowded because Ho Chi Minh City is implementing social distancing to prevent epidemics.