People in the West flock to buy rice to stock up because the price of rice is cheap.

According to records on January 17, rice mills in Cai Lay town, Tien Giang province were still crowded with vehicles and people gathering to buy rice.

Unlike before, when only trucks parked in front of the rice mill waiting to transport goods for export, now most of the motorbikes and three-wheeled vehicles come to buy rice in small quantities for storage. On average, each person buys about a few 50kg bags.

Present at Ngoc Hoa rice warehouse (Ward 1, Cai Lay town, Tien Giang province) at noon the same day, Ms. Phan Thi Diem (residing in Phu Quy commune, Cai Lay town) said that in recent days her neighbors had brought a lot of rice to stockpile. After knowing that the price of rice was cheap, she and her husband took advantage of their lunch break to ride their motorbike to buy some.

"Normally, a 50kg bag of Sa Mo rice is sold for 800,000 VND, sometimes even higher, but today I bought it for 600,000 VND/bag.

Seeing that I could make a profit of several hundred thousand, I bought two bags in advance to store for later consumption. I calculated that I made a profit of about 400,000 VND," said Ms. Diem.

Along Provincial Road 868, many rice mills display rice on the roadside and hang up discount signs. Sa Mo rice is sold for 600,000 VND/bag, and Thom rice is 750,000 VND/50kg bag.

This price is about 200,000 VND lower per bag than it was more than a week ago. Although not as crowded as the first days, the rice mills are always bustling with buyers and sellers.

In addition to people buying rice to store for later consumption, many companies and organizations also transport rice by truck to distribute to workers; or do charity work, distributing to poor and disadvantaged households.

Mr. T. (owner of a rice mill in Cai Lay town) said the reason why rice mills have been selling rice in retail in recent days is because the export price of rice has dropped, so the mills have been selling rice in retail to people to cut losses.