Life gets sweeter for confectionery firms

VNStockNews.com - Vietnamese confectionery items are again dominating supermarket shelves as major domestic manufacturers compete against their foreign rivals.

Distributors attributed it to the strengthening US dollar, which has pushed up the prices of imported confectionery products, and recent scares about contaminated foreign confectionery products and surreptitious changes made by sellers about expiry dates.

Ngo Van Hai, deputy director of the HCM City-based CitiMart supermarket chain, said most imported confectionery products had become 10-15 per cent more expensive than a year ago, adding that 80 per cent of the confectionery products sold by his supermarket were locally made.

At other supermarkets like BigC and Co.opMart, the volume of domestic products has increased by 30 per cent and they account for a lion’s share of the stocks.

After recent inspections found some foreign dried fruits containing lead, both distributors and consumers are wary of importing and using foreign products.

In Viet Nam, despite a sharp rise in sugar prices, confectionery companies have stepped up production and quality since the year’s biggest festival Tet (lunar New Year) is around the corner.

Le Phung Hao, deputy director general of Kinh Do Bakery Company, said his company planned to produce 30 million boxes of cookies and sweets for the festival in mid-February, an increase of 15 per cent over last year.

Other major players like Lubico and Bibica have also increased production by 20 per cent.

Bibica too is determined to keep prices unchanged during Tet.

Besides, all of them plan to establish thousands of sales agents at supermarkets and shops.

They hope that their prices, which are lower than that of imports, attractive packaging, and guarantee of hygiene and safety would prove a hit with consumers during Tet.