Customers buy safe food at Metro Binh Phu in HCM City. — VNA/VNS Photo Phuong Vy

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — Vietnamese people are spending three times as much money on food as they did in 2004, according to the General Statistic Office (GSO).

GSO statistics showed that the average person's spending on food and foodstuffs in 2015 was VND5.6 million (US$250) per year, three times the amount of 2004. This amount is expected to increase to VND5.7 million in 2016.

GSO also said the total expense on food of Vietnamese people has risen from nearly VND360 trillion in 2010 to VND520 trillion in 2015. It is forecasted to reach VND540 trillion in 2016.

The average expense on food and foodstuffs per person per month in 2015 was VND470,000, GSO said. This number was twice as high in some major cities.

In HCM city in 2014, the average expense on food per person per month was VND961,000 and that number for Da Nang was VND802,000, said a representative from the Information Center for Agriculture and Rural Development (AGROINFO) at a seminar on "modern consumption trend and fresh food" held by the Viet Nam Retailers Association (VRA) in Ha Noi this week.

According to VRA chairwoman Dinh Thi My Loan, the value of food consumption has increased as a result of the development of the retail sector and Vietnamese consumer's higher income.

Loan said 85 per cent of Vietnamese consumers purchased food at traditional retail channels such as wet markets and roadside shops. Only about 15 per cent bought food through modern retail channels such as supermarkets, hypermarkets and convenience stores. — VNS