Rising raw material and fuel costs are putting pressure on food businesses and restaurants in HCM City to hike prices.

Saigon Food JSC was quoted by Tuoi Tre newspaper as saying it has increased processed food prices by up to 15 per cent due to high costs.

Raw materials and packaging costs have been rising for the past two years as COVID-19 disrupted supply chains, while transport costs have gone up due to rising fuel prices.

Other food companies such as Vissan JSC and Duy Anh Food Company also increased their prices.

Pham Thi Huan, chairwoman of poultry products supplier Ba Huan JSC, said her company’s egg products were part of the city’s price stabilisation programme, but rising costs were creating great pressure.

Tran Quoc Thinh, founder of the 109 Chicken Hotpot chain, said raw material costs had increased by 15 per cent from last year, and rent had also gone up.

“Our business has not fully recovered to pre-COVID levels and so we have been putting off price hikes, but if costs keep rising we will have to do it.”

Even cheap restaurants whose main customers are students and low-income workers are having to raise prices since the costs of ingredients and cooking oil have doubled in the last two years. Some are losing price-sensitive customers as a result. – VNS