THANH HOÁ -- Chilli prices in central province of Thanh Hóa have reached a record high.

In many local markets, consumers have had to fork out VNĐ1,000 (US$0.04) for just two chillies. In some markets, the price is VNĐ5,000 ($0.2) for four chillies.

Hoàng Thị Huệ, resident of Thanh Hóa City, said she’d never paid so much ever for chillies.

"Usually, I only spent VNĐ500 for several pods, but it is as at least VNĐ2,000 for that number, four times as much," she said. If the chilli was a bit bigger, just one pod costs VNĐ1,000, she said.

"It’s incredibly high,"Huệ said, adding, "the vendor told me to buy a kilogramme to get a better price - about VNĐ100,000-150,000 ($4-). This is totally not a good price in any way."

Some vegetable sellers at the Đông Thành and Tây Thành markets said they did not purchase chilli as much as they used to because of the surprisingly high prices. 

Lê Xuân Mận, chairman of the Agricultural Services Corporative in Yên Định District’s Định Liên Commune, where chillies are a main crop, said that the price spike was real. He said the reason was that the chilly supply for both the domestic market and export to China was mainly from the south-central provinces.

This year, these provinces were heavily flooded, and their crops, including chillies, submerged and ruined. Thus, the price of fresh chillies had been rising since October, he said.

Mận also said the prices are not likely to decrease in the coming months.

The commune has about 40 hectares of fresh chilli at the moment. When they are harvested, big chillies will be sold for between VNĐ15,000-27,000 per kilo, and small red hot chillies at VNĐ80,000-100,000 ($3.2-4) per kilo.

Lê Thị Hà, farmer in Village No1, said that her family earns VNĐ16 million ($702) from a sào (0.036ha) of chillies, not including extra costs like fertiliser and seedlings. -- VNS