BANGKOK, 1 Aug 2013, Deputy Commerce Minister Yanyong Phuangrach has announced pork price freezes, following recent surges which have caused hardship to low-income earners.
The decision came after the Deputy Minister’s discussion with swine farmers and market representatives who unanimously agreed to the move to ease consumer burdens.
For the next 3 weeks, wholesale pork price would be frozen at 72 baht per kilogram while retail price at 130 baht per kilogram.
The Commerce Minister has asked for cooperation from fresh markets and supermarket chains to open a corner selling cheap pork, with the help from the Department of Internal Trade and related agencies.
The Swine Raisers Association of Thailand has also suggested two ways to stabilize pork prices, one of which is to establish a fund to buy pork when the market is oversupplied. The fund will be financed by half of the soybean meal import tax worth about 800 million baht collected by the government annually. The other measure is for the government to support swine farmers with animal feed. The measures have been raised to the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives for consideration.
