Food costs skyrocket for Vietnamese people hinh anh 1 Customers choose vegetables in Dong Da District, Hanoi (Source: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnamese people are spending three times as much money on food as they did in 2004, according to the General Statistic Office (GSO).

GSO statistics showed that the average person’s spending on food and foodstuffs in 2015 was 5.6 million VND (250 USD) per year, three times the amount of 2004. This amount is expected to increase to 5.7 million VND in 2016.

GSO also said the total expense on food of Vietnamese people had risen from nearly 360 trillion VND in 2010 to 520 trillion VND in 2015. It is forecasted to reach 540 trillion VND in 2016.

The average expense on food and foodstuffs per person per month in 2015 was 470,000 VND, GSO said. This number was twice as high in some major cities.

In HCM City in 2014, the average expense on food per person per month was 961,000 VND and that number for Da Nang was 802,000 VND, said a representative from the Information Center for Agriculture and Rural Development (AGROINFO) at a seminar on “modern consumption trend and fresh food” held by the Vietnam Retailers Association (VRA) in Hanoi this week.

According to VRA Chairwoman Dinh Thi My Loan, the value of food consumption has increased as a result of the development of the retail sector and Vietnamese consumer’s higher income.

Loan said 85 percent of Vietnamese consumers purchased food at traditional retail channels such as wet markets and roadside shops. Only about 15 percent bought food through modern retail channels such as supermarkets, hypermarkets and convenience stores.-VNA
VNA