Vietnamese produce anchors supermarket shelves ahead of Tet 2026

At the “Red River Delta Agricultural Produce Connectivity Forum” held on December 22-23, 2025, a clear picture of Tet 2026 consumption trends emerged: households are tightening spending but remain willing to prioritise fresh, safe food with transparent origins. In this context, Vietnamese agricultural products continue to play a central role in modern retail systems, with supermarkets increasingly becoming a key distribution channel for farm produce from the Red River Delta.

Speaking at the forum, Nguyen Thi Kim Dung, Director of Saigon Co.op Hanoi Supermarket, said the “buy right, buy enough” mindset is now shaping Tet shopping behaviour. Consumers are more cautious in their spending decisions, focusing on well-priced promotions while maintaining strict expectations for quality and food safety. Notably, despite rising prices of fresh food items such as vegetables and eggs, largely due to the impacts of recent floods and extreme weather, Vietnamese produce still accounts for a substantial share of household shopping baskets, particularly for daily meals and traditional Tet offerings.

Alongside this shift, green and health-oriented consumption continues to gain momentum. Standards such as VietGAP, GlobalGAP, OCOP certification, “green responsibility” labels and environmentally friendly production methods are increasingly decisive factors in purchasing decisions. This trend is no longer limited to fresh food, but is also reshaping the Tet gift market. Consumers are gradually moving away from gift baskets that emphasise appearance, instead favouring practical products such as Vietnamese agricultural produce, regional specialties and health-enhancing foods. Retailers expect these items to be a major highlight of the 2026 Tet season.

On the supply side, the Red River Delta, traditionally one of northern Vietnam’s key agricultural regions, is undergoing a visible transition towards more technologically advanced production models. Localities including Hanoi, Bac Ninh, Hai Phong, Hung Yen, Hai Duong and Phu Tho have developed concentrated production areas that better meet the requirements of modern distribution channels. During Tet 2026, demand is forecast to rise sharply for seasonal products from the region, particularly winter vegetables, specialty fruits such as pomelo, oranges and mandarins, as well as processed foods closely linked to northern Tet traditions, including pork rolls, dong vermicelli, wood ear mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, specialty rice and OCOP products from traditional craft villages.

With a nationwide network of more than 800 retail outlets, including Co.opmart, Co.opmart Pro, Co.opXtra, Co.op Food, Co.op Smile, Finelife and Sense City shopping centres, Saigon Co.op is regarded as a key support platform for Vietnamese goods in general and Red River Delta agricultural products in particular. According to the retailer, leafy vegetables such as mustard greens, water spinach, malabar spinach and bok choy, along with commonly consumed produce including cucumbers, tomatoes, winter melon, chayote, sponge gourd and bottle gourd, account for around 80 per cent of total Red River Delta produce sales within the system. Leafy vegetables alone recorded growth of approximately 15 per cent year on year. Meanwhile, specialty fruits such as Bac Giang lychee, Hoa Binh Canh oranges, Tai Nung pears, Son La Buddha’s hand citron and Hoa Binh Dien pomelo continued to see stable demand. In 2025, total Red River Delta produce sold through Saigon Co.op’s retail network exceeded 600 tonnes.

Building on this foundation, demand for Tet 2026 is expected to increase strongly across essential product groups, including vegetables, meat, eggs, semi-processed foods, specialty rice, OCOP products, and fruit and vegetable gift baskets for home consumption and ancestral offerings. Vietnamese goods consistently account for more than 90 per cent of products sold across Saigon Co.op’s retail system, providing favourable conditions for regional produce to access modern distribution channels. However, these opportunities come with increasingly stringent entry requirements, including full traceability, quality certification, modern packaging, stable supply capacity and reliable delivery commitments.

During the 2026 Tet season, Saigon Co.op has reaffirmed its role as a “market stabiliser” within the domestic retail sector. According to company representatives, sourcing plans are prepared well in advance, with inventory levels increased by 35-40 per cent compared with normal periods to prevent supply bottlenecks and mitigate the risk of oversupply or price collapses. At the same time, the retailer is strengthening direct links with cooperatives, farmers and raw material zones, reducing intermediaries while helping to stabilise prices and outlets for producers. Demand-stimulation programmes are designed to align with different stages of Tet consumption, focusing first on fresh food, then shifting to fruits, regional specialties and agricultural gift products at peak periods, with online and offline channels combined to broaden market reach.

Beyond raw sales, integrating agricultural products into Tet gift baskets and traditional meal offerings is seen as an effective way to add value through processing, packaging and storytelling linked to regional identity. This approach is also expected to help Red River Delta produce gain deeper access to urban consumers, particularly younger customer segments.

Another key theme discussed at the forum was support for digital transformation among enterprises and cooperatives in branding and market promotion. In 2025, alongside the launch of new, internationally aligned retail models such as Co.opmart Pro Vu Yen in Hai Phong, Saigon Co.op continued to upgrade physical stores in Hanoi with enhanced shopping experiences combining retail, technology, food and entertainment. The upgraded Co.op Online e-commerce platform is positioned as an important tool for enterprises and cooperatives to promote local products and OCOP items nationwide, connecting high-quality Vietnamese goods with a broader customer base, including younger consumers and international buyers.

On the export front, discussions at the forum also highlighted emerging opportunities for winter crops. Ngo Thi Thu Hong, Director of AMEII Vietnam JSC, said that crop losses and delayed harvests in China have opened new prospects for Vietnamese carrots. The company currently exports an average of 80-100 containers of carrots to South Korea each year and is expanding linkages for products such as chilli, napa cabbage and lettuce for kimchi processing. However, she stressed that sustainable export growth depends on the development and strict management of standardised raw material zones, full compliance with food safety regulations and supportive logistics policies to enhance competitiveness.

From domestic consumption to export markets, discussions at the Red River Delta Agricultural Produce Connectivity Forum converged on a common conclusion: Vietnamese agricultural products face significant opportunities, provided they meet increasingly demanding market standards. With the stabilising role of modern retailers, proactive engagement by enterprises and close cooperation from producers, Red River Delta produce is expected not only to secure a strong presence on supermarket shelves during Tet, but also to contribute to the development of a more modern, efficient and sustainable supply chain over the longer term.