Five months ago, 22-year-old Tran Lan Thuong left her family in the Vietnamese countryside to take a $50-a-month job at a Chinese-owned motorbike factory on the outskirts of Hanoi. Her aim was to save money to further her education, with studies in accountancy.

But rising food prices have left her barely able to survive on her factory wages. Instead of sending money home, she relies on rice, eggs and dried fish carried back from bi-weekly visits to her parents’ farm. She rarely eats meat, now an unaffordable luxury, even after receiving a pay rise of $6.25 (€3.90, £3.15) – the equivalent of 1½ kg of pork.