BANGKOK, 7 August 2011 – Pork stalls countrywide are still suffering a sharp drop in sale as more and more consumers have turned to fish and chicken as the less expensive food alternatives.
Despite the Ministry of Commerce’s measure to cap the price of pork to 152 baht per kilogram, sellers said their business remain as sluggish as ever as most customer now opt for cheaper sources of protein, mainly fish and chicken.
Compared to fish and chicken, the price of pork is still high. Fish and poultry sellers revealed that the number of customers had jumped dramatically. They said more and more of their customers find that fish and chicken are not only much cheaper but are also less fatty than pork.
Foreign buyers along the border areas have also decided to import pork from Vietnam which is five to ten baht cheaper per kilogram, although the quality of Vietnamese pork is said to be lower than that of Thai pork.
Epidemics are said to have killed a number of pigs, resulting in a sharp drop in pork supply to the markets and in the hike of prices.
