Central residents stung by high chilli prices

Thanh Hoa (VNA) - Chilli prices in the central province of Thanh Hoa have reached a record high.

In many local markets, consumers have had to fork out 1,000 VND (0.04 USD) for just two chillies. In some markets, the price is 5,000 VND (0.2 USD) for four chillies.

Hoang Thi Hue, resident of Thanh Hoa city, said she’d never paid so much ever for chillies.

"Usually, I only spent 500 VND for several pods, but it is as at least 2,000 VND for that number, four times as much," she said. If the chilli was a bit bigger, just one pod costs 1,000 VND, she said.

"It’s incredibly high," Hue said, adding, "the vendor told me to buy a kilogramme to get a better price - about 100,000-150,000 VND (4 USD). This is totally not a good price in any way."

Some vegetable sellers at the Dong Thanh and Tay Thanh markets said they did not purchase chilli as much as they used to because of the surprisingly high prices. 

Le Xuan Man, Chairman of the Agricultural Services Corporative in Yen Dinh district’s Dinh Lien commune, where chillies are a main crop, said that the price spike was real. He said the reason was that the chilly supply for both the domestic market and export to China was mainly from the south-central provinces.

This year, these provinces were heavily flooded, and their crops, including chillies, submerged and ruined. Thus, the price of fresh chillies had been rising since October, he said.

Man also said the prices are not likely to decrease in the coming months.

The commune has about 40 hectares of fresh chilli at the moment. When they are harvested, big chillies will be sold for between 15,000-27,000 VND per kilo, and small red hot chillies at 80,000-100,000 VND (3.2-4 USD) per kilo.

Le Thi Ha, farmer in Village No1, said that her family earns 16 million VND (702 USD) from a sào (0.036ha) of chillies, not including extra costs like fertiliser and seedlings.-VNA