VietNamNet Bridge – Textbook prices will be lowered by 10% on the threshold of the 2009-2010 school year. The Education Publishing House has promised to carry out the textbook price reduction programme immediately; however, book houses have not done this.

The Education Publishing House asked book and school equipment companies to implement the programme on distributing books for the 2009-2010 school year, announcing the discount of 10-15% off the cover prices.

According to Nguyen Van Xuong, Director of the Thanh Hoa Book and School Equipment Company, this is the first year the publishing house has decided upon such a massive price reduction for students.

Nevertheless, one month after the document was released, textbook prices have not decreased yet.

At 6 pm on April 19, the book store at No 45B Ly Thuong Kiet in Hanoi was still reportedly selling textbooks at cover prices. The textbook for literature, 11^th class was selling at VND8,700 (part 1) and VND5,700 (part 2).

Meanwhile, Tien Phong Book Store on Tay Son street is also selling textbooks at the cover prices. The salesmen here said that they had not heard anything about the price reductions.

Ngo Tran Ai, when asked why book stores had not reduced sale prices, said that the Education Publishing House cannot force book stores to slash sale prices, because they are businesses.

According to Ngo Tran Ai, when printing companies joined bids for printing textbooks, the paper price was VND12mil/tonne. After that, the paper price increased to VND14.5mil/tonne, and the publishing house suggested that the textbook price increases by 9%. However, the paper price later unexpectedly rose to VND18mil, but the textbook price did not increase further. The paper price has dropped to VND15mil/tonne, but it is still higher than the initial price at VND12mil/tonne.

Nguyen Van Dong, Chairman of the Vietnam Printing Association, Director of Tran Phu Printing Company, said that the Education Publishing House has decided to slash the sale prices of textbooks as the paper price has decreased. However, the paper price has been forecast to increase.

Bao Anh