ID :
165794
Fri, 03/04/2011 - 09:51
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http://m.oananews.org//node/165794
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Shortages of vegetable oil, sugar reported in Thailand
BANGKOK, March 4 (TNA) - Vegetable oil and sugar remain insufficient and very expensive in several areas in Thailand, as some traders have claimed smuggling of the products into neighbouring countries by local wholesalers.
Bottled palm oil with blue and pink caps, the prices of which are subsidized by the Thai government, are now retailed at prices higher than the ceiling 47-baht per one-liter bottle ordered by the Thai Ministry of Commerce, or at 60 baht each; while a one-liter bottle of the cooking palm oil with a pink cap is now retailed at 55 baht.
Local retailers claimed that wholesalers have supplied truckloads of bottled cooking palm oil with blue and pink caps to buyers in Myanmar. Besides, cooking palm oil is unavailable in outskirts areas and vegetable oil, including soybean oil, has been unavailable for over two months. A trader in a local food market said he has never experienced such a crisis of vegetable oil shortages--although the Thai government has announced to distribute the bottled cooking palm oil with the subsidized price.
Meanwhile, sugar shortages have already affected local traders, as sugar prices on the domestic market have risen from 24 baht to 25-30 baht per kilogram.
Thai Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said that concerned authorities would meet on March 8 to decide whether more palm oil imports should be necessary, and that local palm oil hoarders would be arrested and all parties should not take any advantage against consumers. (TNA)
Bottled palm oil with blue and pink caps, the prices of which are subsidized by the Thai government, are now retailed at prices higher than the ceiling 47-baht per one-liter bottle ordered by the Thai Ministry of Commerce, or at 60 baht each; while a one-liter bottle of the cooking palm oil with a pink cap is now retailed at 55 baht.
Local retailers claimed that wholesalers have supplied truckloads of bottled cooking palm oil with blue and pink caps to buyers in Myanmar. Besides, cooking palm oil is unavailable in outskirts areas and vegetable oil, including soybean oil, has been unavailable for over two months. A trader in a local food market said he has never experienced such a crisis of vegetable oil shortages--although the Thai government has announced to distribute the bottled cooking palm oil with the subsidized price.
Meanwhile, sugar shortages have already affected local traders, as sugar prices on the domestic market have risen from 24 baht to 25-30 baht per kilogram.
Thai Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said that concerned authorities would meet on March 8 to decide whether more palm oil imports should be necessary, and that local palm oil hoarders would be arrested and all parties should not take any advantage against consumers. (TNA)
