Forget gold or oil, the hottest speculative investment in Pattaya right now is the lowly face mask.
Saowanee Poonsawas has sold surgical masks at the Wat Sutthawat Flea Market since the onset of the pandemic. Demand had dropped considerably in recent months as Thais increasingly stopped wearing them regularly and the air quality improved. As a result, a single mask sold in packs of 50 was selling for 1.8 baht.
That all changed this week following the explosive coronavirus outbreak in Samut Sakhon.
Saowanee said mask prices have shot up like gold. Although price-controlled by the government, her cost for a box of 50 jumped to 80 baht. A week ago, she had been selling those boxes retail for 90 baht.
The hard cap on how high prices can go legally is set at 2.5 baht a piece. Anyone caught charging more than that can face heavy fines and jail time.
The vendor said she will sell her current stock, but if prices go higher, she’ll simply stop selling them if she can’t make a profit under the price control.
