Though prices of goods are expected to increase as the lunar New Year (Tet) is approaching, the Hanoi Department for Industry and Trade has assured the rise will be moderate thanks to profuse goods stocks.

The department said it has provided 12 local commercial businesses with loans worth totally 250 billion VND, up by 90 billion VND over the last year, at a zero interest rate, to store essential goods for the year’s biggest traditional festival.

Thirteen businesses in Ho Chi Minh City have also received preferential loans of 422 billion VND to stock up on eight essential goods, including rice, sugar, cooking oil, meat and processed foods for Tet.

In parallel with the State’s assistance, big producers and suppliers as well as trade centres and supermarkets in Hanoi and other localities nationwide themselves have made good preparations over the past month.

Truong Minh Thanh, Deputy General Director of the Hanoi Trade Corporation (Hapro) – one of the largest goods suppliers in Hanoi and the northern region, said the corporation’s subsidiaries have reserved goods worth 400 billion VND in total.

The major supermarket chains of Metro, Intimex and Fivimart also prepared over 1 trillion VND worth of essential goods while the Big C Thang Long supermarket has pledged to cut the prices of about 1,500 items of goods by 10-30 percent on the days near Tet.

Many supermarkets also have mobile sale programmes for industrial zones and suburban areas to bring goods directly to customers.

However, the Chairman of the Hanoi Supermarkets’ Association Vu Vinh Phu said relevant agencies need to work closely in preventing speculation, fake and imitated goods in order to keep a better control on the market.

The association also predicts that the consumption power during this year’s Tet festival, which will fall on February 14, will increase by 20 percent over the last year’s level./.