Sunday June 1, 2008
Retailers set plastic bag prices
By LIANG QIWEN and QIAN YANFENG
BEIJING: Shoppers will be charged between 0.2 yuan (9 sen) and 2 yuan (94 sen) for the plastic bags they use, retailers have said, as the national ban on free plastic shopping bags comes into effect on Sunday.
Carrefour, one of the biggest foreign retailers in Guangzhou, said its bags can carry up to 7kg and will cost 0.2 yuan.
Tang Juan, secretary-general of the Guangzhou Chain Store Franchise Association, said: “Different supermarkets have fixed different prices according to the cost of their plastic bags.”
The most expensive shopping bags come from Jusco, a largescale Japan-invested retail group in Guangzhou, which will charge 2 yuan for its largest bags.
In Shanghai, Lotus Supermarkets Chain Store set their retail price at 0.3 yuan (14 sen), and the bags will be printed with bar codes as goods for sale.
Hu Minghua, spokesman from Walmart in Shanghai, said the supermarket has not decided on the prices for plastic bags. But the company has been trying to promote different kinds of alternative bags at its retail stores. Bags made of non-woven cloth are sold from 1.5 to 2.9 yuan (70 sen to RM1.36), depending on different sizes, Hu said.
In Beijing, the largest local retail chain Wumart also priced plastic shopping bags at 0.2 and 0.4 yuan (19 sen), which hold weights of 10kg and 20kg, respectively.
However, most customers said the price is too high. And many residents in Shanghai have started to resort to alternative bags.
“I’d rather carry my own bag to the supermarket from next month,” Hua Fei, a university student in the city, said.
Even though most people in Guangzhou understand the intention of the policy, some people suspect supermarkets will use it to make money.
Zhang Qijun, a Guangzhou resident, said, “The prices of goods have always included the price of plastic bags.”
For some private small-sized grocery stores, owners worry that charging for plastic bags will reduce the number of customers.
“I will still provide my customers free plastic bags,” a grocery store owner said.
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