Canned food import rules to be relaxed
The Cabinet at tomorrow meeting is expected to approve the imports of canned food and essential consumers goods, to ease the current shrotages driven by supply chain disruption.
After a discussion with the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI), and representatives from food and consumer goods producers and modern-trade operators, Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong said that he would ask for temporary relaxation on such imports.
The Food and Drug Administration can urgently relax some regulations, said Kittiratt.
"Manufacturers insist that they would raise output to meet higher demand, while modern trade operators will double their purchases to fill up shelves," he said.
Kittiratt expects that the demand would decline soon, after days of stocking.
The Commerce Ministry has set up three operations rooms to oversees the distribution of goods in Bangkok and peripheral areas. The centres will set up marketplaces where food and essential goods items will be sold with 20-40 per cent discounts. More will be set up in 15 provinces this week.
Pun Paniangvait, a senior executive at Thai President Foods, the manufacturer of best-selling "Mama" instant noodles, said the company has increased production capacity by almost 50 per cent. Its plants have been running 24 hours for two weeks.
During the period, daily output of 'Mama' has been increased from 3.6 million sachets to 5.4 million.
Pun said that his firm will continue increasing supply during floods. However, he also believed that the demand would drop soon as consumers have built up enough stocks. During this period, despite logistics problems, the company would maintain the sell price. Good news is the company's three plants in Lamphun, Sri Racha and Rayong as well as suppliers are saved from floods.
