Essential goods 'stirring' to increase in price

Since the beginning of 2025, prices of many essential goods have continuously increased, causing the total cost of food and living expenses of people to increase, while the income of a part of workers, especially unskilled workers and freelance workers, has not increased, and has even decreased due to difficulties in production by businesses.

People shop at a supermarket in the province.

Many restaurants increase prices

For people with stable or well-off incomes, a change of a few thousand dong per meal may not be significant, but for workers, freelancers, students, employees, etc., this is a significant pressure.

Mr. Le Minh Toan, a freight forwarder (also known as a shipper) in Tan Ninh ward, Tay Ninh province, said that while in the past he spent an average of VND85,000 per day for three meals: breakfast, lunch, and dinner, now the cost has increased to nearly VND100,000, because restaurants in the area have simultaneously increased prices by VND3,000 - VND5,000 per dish.

According to Mr. Toan, the number of online shopping orders on e-commerce sites tends to decrease compared to before, while the number of people registering to become shippers increases. The fee for successfully delivering each order is only a few thousand VND, so despite trying to complete the orders, the income of him and many of his colleagues has decreased.

In industrial parks and traditional markets in Tan Ninh, Long Hoa, Go Dau, Trang Bang wards, etc., prices of daily foods have also changed in an upward direction.

Previously, a portion of broken rice, rib rice, or egg fried rice usually cost 20,000-25,000 VND, now the lowest price is 30,000 VND, many places sell it for 35,000-40,000 VND/portion. Bun dishes, hu tieu, banh canh, banh cuon, etc. have also increased in price from 3,000-10,000 VND/portion depending on the quality of the dish.

"I also want to try to maintain the old price to sell to workers, but now the input materials - from rice, sugar, fish sauce, to meat and fish, etc. - have all increased in price, even the rental cost of the premises where I am selling has just increased. Even though I don't want to, if I don't increase the selling price by a few thousand dong, I won't make a profit" - Ms. Hoa, a rice shop owner in Phuoc Dong Industrial Park, explained.

Rising cost of living

From May 2025, the average retail electricity price has been officially adjusted to increase from VND 2,103.11 to VND 2,204.07/kWh (excluding VAT), equivalent to an increase of 4.8%, leading to a series of other essential goods such as gasoline, food, and gas, causing the cost of living to escalate.

At traditional markets, supermarkets and convenience stores near industrial parks and clusters in Tay Ninh province, the prices of rice, meat, vegetables, tubers, cooking oil, etc. all increased by about 5% - 10% compared to the end of 2024. The average price of live pigs in the first 6 months of 2025 was 68,812 VND/kg, an increase of more than 11,000 VND over the same period; beef also increased slightly.

Meanwhile, many businesses still have no plans to increase wages for workers. Some places have even cut working hours and stopped overtime, leading to a decrease in workers' income. With an average salary of 5-7 million VND/person/month, many unskilled workers have to "tighten their belts" to get by.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoa, a worker at an industrial park in Ben Cau commune, said that her average salary is nearly 7 million VND/month, after deducting rent, electricity, water, and gas, it is more than 2 million VND. She also helps her parents and raises her children, so her salary can be said to be just enough to get by. If there are many parties in the month, she has to borrow more and pay it back gradually the following month.

Similarly, Ms. Ly Thi Anh (living in An Tinh ward) said: “The total income of the couple is more than 18 million VND but still not enough. Any month without additional expenses for parties, medical care (vaccines, medical examinations, treatment), and children's education is just enough.”

Ms. Nguyen Thi Nguyen (from Dong Thap ), who is working at Phuoc Dong Industrial Park, is worried: "The regional minimum wage has not increased, the company has cut working hours, my husband and I are most worried about the new school year coming up, having to worry about the expenses for 2 children from uniforms, books to health insurance, class funds, equipment purchases and general cleaning,...".

According to the writer's research, since the beginning of June 2025, many businesses, especially in the textile and garment industry, have been facing difficulties due to lack of orders, forcing them to cut down on workers or apply a regime of reducing working hours to 4 days/week (two unpaid days off) and no overtime. This makes workers' income even more limited.

For workers from other provinces, renting a room, and having no savings, the increase in electricity, water, and gas prices by a few hundred dong per unit is enough to make them more worried.

In addition, some key agricultural products have decreased in price compared to the same period last year, such as rice decreased by more than 1,500 VND/kg, sticky rice decreased by more than 1,000 VND/kg, cassava at times decreased to less than 2,000 VND/kg, seedless lemon lost more than 8,000 VND/kg, many types of crops also recorded low prices of only a few hundred VND/kg such as squash, winter melon, bitter melon,... causing farmers to suffer.

In the context of an unstable global economy, ongoing geopolitical conflicts, and unstable energy, raw material and transportation costs, the possibility of a “cooling down” of domestic commodity prices remains a big question mark.

Faced with this situation, people expect the Government to soon adjust the regional minimum wage, strengthen price stabilization programs, monitor the market and control electricity, water and gas prices for renters and poor workers.

In addition, people also hope that the relevant authorities will have more effective social security support policies, especially at the beginning of the new school year (in addition to the newly issued tuition exemption and support policy), because this is the time when workers have to spend more than usual./.

Good Virtue

Source: https://baolongan.vn/hang-hoa-thiet-yeu-ruc-rich-tang-gia-a200428.html