Hanoi plans to stockpile commodities worth VND39 trillion (US$1.7 billion) to meet local demands for the upcoming Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday, the country’s largest festive period, according to the municipal Department of Industry and Trade.

Locals at Hapro supermarket in Hanoi. Photo: Thanh Hai

Under the plan, the local authorities and retailers in Hanoi would boost their inventories of basic necessities, including rice, beef, pork, chicken, seafood, egg, processed food, vegetables, and fruits.

The department also expects a surge in demand for electronic products, clothes, as well as medical supplies for the Covid-19 prevention efforts such as hand sanitizer or face masks.

As of present, Hanoi has a total of 28 shopping malls, 123 supermarkets, 449 wet markets, 1,800 convenience stores, and thousands of grocery stores.

For the past years, Hanoi has been working on establishing distribution networks of safe and high-quality farm produce, which results in 141 value chains connecting 1,130 suppliers of agro-forestry-fishery products from 45 provinces/cities.

The network, along with online shopping channels of websites and apps from 35 enterprises and 565 online platforms, is expected to meet the demands of locals during the pandemic.

Acting Director of the municipal Department of Industry and Trade Tran Thi Phuong Lan said the uncertainties surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic means retailers should draft backup plans for operation in line with the evolution of the pandemic situation along with efforts to provide sufficient basic necessities for the locals during the year-end festive periods.

“In case of Covid-19 outbreak, localities in Hanoi could utilize 2,500 designated locations across the city as the storage or mobile retailing points, while stores selling non-essential goods would be renovated to provide basic necessities,” Phuong added.