Flower prices drop amid Covid-19
"I've never had such bad business over the last decade. The streets are empty and there were no customers because many people have already returned to their hometowns early or are staying at home," she said. "We invested VND100m (USD4,300) but haven't been able to sell a third of the flowers and trees yet."
Despite lower prices, she still hasn't seen many customers. Most people prefer to buy small and affordable flowers and trees instead of expensive ones like in previous years.
Nghia, a peach flower tree trader, said even though he had reduced the prices by half, he still didn't have many customers.
"Kumquat trees can be brought back to the garden but the peach flower branches will only be thrown away. We want to sell as quickly as possible," he said. "Last Tet, I sold 30 branches a day but now I only had three customers a day. I'm not sure if I can sell them all before Tet."
The price for a peach flower branch brought from the mountainous areas are sold for VND800,000 (USD35) to VND2m, a decrease of 30%-40% from last Tet Holiday.
Even restaurants in Hanoi are also closing early as people cancel year-end parties.
Nguyen Huy, an employee in Cau Giay District, said his restaurant closed on February 3 and will open after Tet on February 17 because of the lack of customers.
