CHANTHABURI, Sept 19 – Thailand’s border trade at Chanthaburi has dropped by half due to the heavy rain in many eastern provinces, while erratic changes of weather in the southern provinces has caused the increased price of seafood.
Thai-Cambodian Business and Tourism Association vice chairman Sombat Juengtrakul said that flooding and rain in the eastern provinces have caused the border trade between Thailand and Cambodia at Chantaburi to drop by 50 per cent.
Normally Cambodian traders order Thai products on average at Bt30 million per day but orders have fallen to Bt15 million–about Bt500 million per month—because cross border transportation was inconvenient, he said.
Moreover, he said, shopping for Thai products at the border markets also droped by half due to the weather.
But the number of Cambodian workers crossing border to work in Thailand remained the same at around 1,000 persons daily.
Meanwhile, fluctuations of the weather has caused the price of fresh seafood at Maharaj market in Krabi to rise. Rough seas have barred fishing trawlers from going to sea and fewer fish are being caught.
The price of mackerel has risen from Bt80 per kilogramme to Bt90 per/kg, banana shrimp from Bt250/kg to Bt300-350/kg.
Maharaj market fresh seafood chairperfson Hava Changrua said the prices of seafood now are not stable because rough seas have reduced the quantity of seafood caught by the fishermen.
However, she believed that when the sea was calm, the seafood prices would return to normal.
