As the Lunar New Year approaches, production in traditional craft villages and garden households has entered a peak period, with residents working at full capacity to supply the market and meet rising consumer demand.

In the rice paper villages of Ea Bar Commune, hundreds of furnaces burn continuously from early morning until late at night. The scent of newly milled rice and roasted sesame fills the air as steaming sheets are cast, dried and packaged in an uninterrupted cycle.

Traditional rice paper production at Ngot Huy rice paper facility.

To cater to diverse consumer preferences, rice paper producers are focusing on key product lines, including large square sheets and round varieties made from rice blended with yellow sesame, black sesame and coconut. Alongside machine-made products, traditionally hand-cast rice paper remains popular. Prices currently range from 140,000 VND to 180,000 VND per 100 sheets.

Production is also in full swing at the sedge mat weaving village of Phu Tan in O Loan commune. According to Le Thi Thanh, owner of a local weaving facility in Phu Tan 1 hamlet, recent floods caused shortages of raw sedge materials and even damaged finished mats. However, she noted that prices have remained stable compared with previous years, while producers have maintained sufficient supply to meet both wholesale and retail orders.

Despite heavy impacts from the historic floods in November, production facilities in My Thanh broom-making village (Phu Hoa 1 commune) and the traditional woodworking village of Vinh Phu (Vinh Phu hamlet, Tuy Hoa ward) have rushed into the Tet production season, making use of favourable weather to dry wood and raw materials for the year’s busiest period.

Residents of My Thanh broom-making village busy with Tet production.

From around the tenth lunar month, flower growers in craft villages begin planting marigolds, chrysanthemums and gladioli. Many households have intensified cultivation and protection efforts to ensure timely harvests. Lien Tri 3 ornamental plant village in Binh Kien ward currently has more than 110 participating households, primarily growing chrysanthemums, apricot blossoms, kumquat trees, herbaceous flowers and bonsai. Each Tet season, the village supplies around 10,000-12,000 pots of flowers and ornamental plants to the market.

Some growers said prices this year will depend largely on supply levels and consumer demand. While the number of flowers and ornamental plants is lower than last year, product quality has improved thanks to the application of science and technology in cultivation and care.

Translated by K.T