BANGKOK, March 30 (TNA) — Deputy Prime Minister/Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanawisit extended a ban on the export of chicken eggs for 30 days and allowed the Public Health Ministry and the Interior Ministry to manage the distribution of surgical masks.
Mr Jurin, in his capacity as chairman of the government committee overseeing product and service prices, said his previous ban on chicken egg exports would end on March 31 but the local shortage of chicken eggs continued.
Therefore, he said, he extended the ban for 30 days and that the ban would be lifted when the shortage ended.
Thailand produces 41 million chicken eggs a day and its daily export amounted to up to 1 million.
Mr Jurin also said that the government was buying 2.3 million surgical masks from local producers a day. The Public Health Ministry took 1.3 million masks for distribution to hospitals. The Interior Ministry distributed 1 million other masks to provincial governors who would then forward the products to those in need in their provinces, Mr Jurin said. (TNA)