BANGKOK – The Ministry of Commerce will be selling items from the Blue Flag affordable product campaign at various markets to offer more affordable options for people purchasing items to celebrate Chinese New Year.
The Chinese New Year festival observed by the Thai-Chinese community starts tomorrow, where Thai-Chinese people are expected to purchase items to celebrate the Lunar New Year.
The Ministry of Commerce has launched a campaign to sell affordable items from the Blue Flag campaign at markets across the country. One of the participating markets is the World Market in Thawi Watthana district of Bangkok, where eggs, pork, burning papers, fruit, and palm oil are being sold at affordable prices.
Customers say they are purchasing the same amount of key items such as chicken and duck as in previous years, however they are cutting down on side items part of the traditional food offerings to the gods and ancestors. Merchants at this market said most items are now selling at a lower price, as a result of the economic slowdown.
The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Commerce Jurin Laksanawisit has encouraged merchants to price their items reasonably.
The Department of Internal Trade’s campaign for this year’s Chinese New Year includes the sale of Blue Flag items at 20 large fresh markets in the Greater Bangkok Area, and 70 markets in other provinces on 8-14 February.
The department has also launched a caravan of Blue Flag grocery trucks to sell affordable items to communities and villages nationwide, as well as opening retail spaces at some 300 PTT, PT oil stations to sell fresh eggs. (NNT)
