Market control for Tet: Determined to prevent price hikes and shortages of goods

Anticipating a surge in shopping demand in the final months of the year, especially leading up to the Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday, Dong Nai province's industry and trade sector, particularly the Provincial Market Management (MM) Department, has been actively engaged, intensifying inspections and controls to stabilize the market and ensure the supply of goods before, during, and after Tet.

The working delegation of the Department of Industry and Trade surveys essential goods for Tet shopping at Co.op Mart Dong Xoai Supermarket. Photo: Truong Hien

Regarding this issue, reporters from Dong Nai Newspaper and Radio, Television conducted an interview with NGUYEN VAN PHUC, Director of the Provincial Market Management Department. According to Phuc, at this time, the supply of goods in the province is basically abundant, with a wide variety of products, adequately meeting the shopping needs of the people.

Despite the basically stable market, complacency must not be allowed

Nguyen Van Phuc, Director of the Dong Nai Provincial Market Management Department.

 The pressure of supply and demand for goods during Tet is immense. How do you assess the "health" of the goods market in the province currently?

Currently, the Dong Nai Provincial Market Management Department manages 95,100 business organizations and individuals.

Through market control, during the peak months at the end of the year and before, during, and after the Lunar New Year 2026, the goods market in the province is basically stable, with essential goods supply ensured, meeting the increased consumption demand of the people. Production, business, circulation, and distribution of goods are smooth; there is no shortage of goods.

Currently, although the prices of some Tet-related goods have seen slight fluctuations according to market rules, there has been absolutely no abnormal "price fever." However, we are not complacent. The peak season is an opportunity for smugglers and counterfeiters to "fish in troubled waters," especially by exploiting e-commerce and express delivery to smuggle substandard goods into the domestic market. The Market Management force has developed a drastic response plan to prevent this early and remotely.

After the provincial merger, with a larger area and a long border with Cambodia, how has the sector been implementing professional operations to control the market, combat smuggling, and commercial fraud, especially during the Tet peak season?

After the provincial merger, with a larger area, Dong Nai is a province that has all modes of transportation: road, inland waterway, maritime, rail, and air. In addition, the province has a long border with Cambodia, many border gates, trails, and open paths... making market inspection and control difficult. Along with that are the difficulties in controlling business activities and trading in cyberspace. Reality requires the Market Management force to work at full speed, strengthening control along the border, domestically, and in cyberspace.

Implementing Plan No. 128/KH-BCD389 on the peak period for combating smuggling, commercial fraud, and counterfeit goods before, during, and after the Lunar New Year (the Year of the Horse) 2026 of the Provincial Steering Committee for Anti-Smuggling, Commercial Fraud, and Counterfeit Goods (Steering Committee 389/DP), the Provincial Market Management Department has issued Decision No. 206/QD-QLTT on the Plan for the peak period for combating smuggling, commercial fraud, and counterfeit goods in the last months of 2025; before, during, and after the Lunar New Year (the Year of the Horse) 2026.

The implementation period of the peak plan is from December 23, 2025, to March 15, 2026. The plan aims to fully and effectively implement the guiding documents of the Government, the Provincial People's Committee, and the Dong Nai Provincial Steering Committee 389 on the peak period for combating smuggling, commercial fraud, and counterfeit goods before, during, and after the Lunar New Year (the Year of the Horse) 2026. Actions have to be implemented to strengthen market inspection and control to detect and deal with illegal acts such as speculation, hoarding, manufacturing, trading prohibited goods, smuggled foreign goods, commercial fraud, counterfeit goods, infringement of industrial property rights, goods of unknown origin, goods that do not ensure food safety..., with a focus on prohibited goods (drugs, weapons, explosives, e-cigarettes, endangered and rare wild animals and plants...), counterfeit goods (pharmaceuticals, food, functional foods, cosmetics, traditional medicine ingredients...), substandard goods, intellectual property infringing goods, conditional import-export goods, high-tax goods, essential goods for production, business, and consumption...

No forbidden zones, no exceptions

A matter of particular public concern currently is the quality of food safety and hygiene for goods serving Tet, and the situation of smuggling and commercial fraud. Could you share more about this situation in the province?

In general, the supply and demand of goods in the province are relatively stable, with no price fever, goods shortages, or major fluctuations. However, after nearly a month of implementing the peak period for preventing and combating smuggling, commercial fraud, counterfeit goods, and intellectual property infringement, the Dong Nai Provincial Market Management Department has inspected 103 cases, handled 78 violations with a total amount of over 900 million VND collected and submitted to the state budget.

The peak period recorded many typical cases that were discovered and handled promptly, such as: The inspections on December 23, 2025, and January 7, 2026, in Long Binh ward discovered 4,200 products that were goods of unknown origin and smuggled. The inspection on January 7, 2026, in Gia Kiem commune detected over 1.4 tons of goods, including cakes and various jams of unknown origin; and the inspection on January 8, 2026, in Tam Hiep ward, with nearly 1 ton of frozen goods discovered, including whole pigs and pig offal. In particular, two cases of illegal gas refilling were discovered and inspected, including one case in Tran Bien ward on January 8, 2026, where a storage location was found to be violating regulations by not notifying its business location and not having a certificate of eligibility to trade chemicals, and one case in Loc Hung commune.

The Market Management Department has strictly handled violations related to food safety conditions, trading smuggled goods, not notifying e-commerce websites to state management agencies, trading goods in conditional business sectors without a business license, and signboard violations...

On January 15, 2026, a working delegation from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and on January 14, 2025, a working delegation from the Department of Industry and Trade worked with departments, agencies, localities, commercial centers, and supermarket systems in the communes and wards of the province. The inspections showed that to date, the supply of goods in this area is quite abundant and diverse in variety, adequately meeting the shopping needs of the people during the Lunar New Year. Businesses and supermarkets have proactively implemented many promotional programs, contributing to stimulating consumption and stabilizing market prices.

In market control, coordination plays a particularly important role. What are your thoughts on this?

It must be affirmed that in market control, coordination is of particular importance, especially in promoting the supervisory role, the "ears and eyes" of the people, and it is even more important in the context of provincial mergers, a large and complex area, while the commercial fraud tricks of perpetrators are increasingly sophisticated and unpredictable.

In 2025, the entire provincial Market Management Department inspected 851 cases, discovered 809 violations, and handled 821 cases (including 2 cases carried over from the previous period, 10 cases transferred from other agencies, 1 specialized inspection case, and 1 case currently being processed). Through handling these cases, fines of over 7.4 billion VND were imposed. Of this, administrative fines amounted to over 7.2 billion VND, late payment fees were 176 thousand VND, illegal profits were 133.2 million VND; proceeds from the sale of confiscated goods were over 60 million VND...

To effectively control the market, the Market Management Department will continue to strengthen area management, proactively apply professional measures to promptly inspect, detect, and handle large, typical cases, with the motto of "handling one case, warning an entire region, an entire field", "no forbidden zones, no exceptions", to prevent the emergence of hot spots regarding smuggling, trade fraud, production and sale of counterfeit goods, and food safety.

The Market Management Department will proactively coordinate with functional forces such as: police, customs, border guards...; brand owners or their representatives, industry associations, e-commerce platforms, social networks... to promptly detect and strictly handle violations related to smuggled goods, prohibited goods, counterfeit goods, and goods of unknown origin.

At the same time, it will coordinate with relevant agencies to inspect and control market prices, preventing unreasonable price increases.

By Minh Luan – Translated by Mai Nga, Thu Ha