Essential goods prices 'stirring' to increase

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 transporter (also known as a shipper) in Tan Ninh ward, Tay Ninh province, said that if before, he spent on average about 85,000 VND per day for 3 meals: breakfast, lunch, and dinner, now the cost has increased to nearly 100,000 VND, because restaurants in the area have simultaneously increased prices from 3,000 - 5,000 VND 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 dong, 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., the prices of daily food have also changed in an upward direction.

Previously, a portion of broken rice, rib rice, or egg fried rice usually cost from 20,000 to 25,000 VND, now the lowest price is also from 30,000 VND, many places sell it for 35,000 to 40,000 VND/portion. Bun dishes, hu tieu, banh canh, banh cuon, etc. also increased from 3,000 to 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. Although I do not want to, if I do not increase the selling price by a few thousand dong, there will be no profit" - Ms. Hoa, a rice shop owner in Phuoc Dong Industrial Park explained.

The cost of living is rising.

From May 2025, the average retail electricity price was 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 increase.

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. In particular, 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 ordinary 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, minus 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 (vaccinations, 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 industry, are 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, the prices of some key agricultural products have decreased sharply 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 in the early stages 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