BANGKOK: The Cabinet yesterday (Jan 18) approved an allocation of B1.48 billion from the central budget to fund relief measures to reduce the rising cost of living over a period of three months.
The Commerce Ministry plans to organise a discount campaign at 3,000 distribution outlets nationwide, with Thong Fah (Blue Flag) low-price schemes to distribute essential goods to communities nationwide. Photo: Radio Thailand Phuket
Government spokesman Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana said the proposal was tabled by the Commerce Ministry, reports the Bangkok Post.
The ministry plans to organise a discount campaign at 3,000 distribution outlets nationwide, with Thong Fah (Blue Flag) low-price schemes to distribute essential goods to communities nationwide.
There will reportedly be at least 50 mobile units in Bangkok and nearby provinces. The project will last for 90 days.
Mr Thanakorn said discounted items will include farm products, chicken, eggs and other essential goods from retail and wholesale suppliers. They will be available at community centres, convenience stores, fresh markets, local department stores, markets, petrol stations and mobile groceries.
He said Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha ordered the Commerce Ministry to brief the cabinet every week on measures to curb prices.
The government also asked for cooperation from manufacturers in freezing retail prices for as long as possible to ease people’s burdens, he noted.
“The project will help ease the plight of people affected by the economic impact of COVID-19 and the soaring prices of goods,”’ the spokesman said.
Pork shortages have been blamed for the price of the meat soaring from B150 per kilogramme to 210-240 baht/kg in just a few weeks, with a contributing factor being the reported spread of African swine fever (ASF).
A government source said Deputy Agriculture Minister Prapat Pothasuthon told the Cabinet meeting that about 19 million pigs were raised in the country. Of them, 18 million were for domestic consumption and one million for export.
Those figures do not indicate any pork shortages, Mr Prapat said, adding that prices of animal feed increased from 78 to 90 baht/kg, according to the source.
He said the figures contradict those given by the Swine Raisers Association of Thailand, which maintains that pork is in short supply, the source said.
“Why are pork supplies running short if the price of animal feed is not too expensive? I wonder if traders are hoarding supplies,” Mr Prapat was quoted as saying during the Cabinet meeting.
The minister said he had no objection to a move to import pork to reduce the rising prices, though he warned against excessive imports leading to potential oversupply, the source said.
Mr Prapat previously told reporters that the detection of ASF in the country may only be partly to blame for the hike in pork prices. Some 350,000 piglets were raised in the country last year, he said.
Currently, a similar number are being farmed while the number of slaughtered pigs has not dropped. “It’s interesting to ask why pork prices keep going up,” Mr Prapat said.
The answer could lie in pork supplies being hoarded during the festive period from November to December last year, which drove up retail prices, he said.
Mr Prapat said the Agriculture Ministry was working with the Commerce Ministry to get to the bottom of the matter. As for the spread of ASF, the Department of Livestock Development has set up local war-rooms to look for any signs of an outbreak in at-risk areas nationwide, he said.
At the Cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Prayut reportedly said domestic cases of ASF were first detected in 2018, but it did not become widespread. The disease only spread occasionally in some parts of the country.
“But problems arise when those involved said they did not detect the disease,” a source quoted him as saying.
Source: The Phuket News
