A customer chooses anti-bacterial face mask at Co.opXtra Linh Trung in HCM City. Co.opXtra, Co.opmart, Co.op Food and the other retail chains run by Saigon Co.op are set to sell over 12 million of the masks at fixed prices. — Photo courtesy of Saigon Co.op
Amid an increase in the prices of face masks and shortage of quality face mask products as COVID-19 resurges, Saigon Co.op plans to supply to the market over 12 million anti-bacterial cloth masks at unchanged prices.
At shops and e-commerce platforms, the prices of masks have increased sharply, with some even doubling in the last two weeks.
The price of a box of 50 four-layer medical masks has increased from VND70,000-129,000 (US$3.1-5.5) to VND 130,000-180,000 ($5.6-7.7), even VND230,000 ($9.9) in some places.
The price of anti-bacterial cloth masks has increased from VND7,000-8,000 each to nearly VND30,000.
Yet, customers cannot buy medical face masks easily, with many drugstores in HCM City, Ha Noi and Can Tho claiming they have been sold out.
Meanwhile, authorities discovered a large volume of fake brands of medical face masks at some companies that were ready to hit the market.
It is in this scenario that Nguyen Anh Duc, general director of Saigon Co.op which operates Co.opmart, Co.opXtra and Co.op Food supermarket chains, decided to sell more than 12 million quality anti-bacterial cloth masks and over 100,000 bottles of hand sanitisers at unchanged prices.
Duc also said that Saigon Co.op plans to increase stocks of products that support to combat the pandemic and other essential goods, and is ready to intervene to stabilise the market.
At an average price of VND22,000 for a bag of three anti-bacterial face masks, Saigon Co.op's retail system currently sells more than 100,000 anti-bacterial masks a day, with Co.opmart, Co.opXtra and Co.op Food accounting for 90,000 and Co.opSmile and FineLife chains for the rest.
Co.opmart stores in the central region saw a strong increase in demand over the weekend, mainly for food products and masks and hand sanitisers, whose sales went up by 30 per cent. — VNS