Producers of canned fish, seasonings seek price rises
Play
Producers of canned fish and seasoning sauce have asked the Commerce Ministry to increase their retail prices after facing a higher daily minimum wage of Bt300, imposed in some provinces early this month.
Somchai Pornrattanacharoen, pre-sident of the Thai Retailing and Wholesaling Association, said many processed-food producers faced higher costs, meaning they would need to raise retail prices by Bt1-Bt2 per item soon.
He said the government’s decision to raise the minimum wage had created a heavier burden for many enterprises, as labour can account for more than 10 per cent of the total production cost for the whole supply chain.
The government should therefore no longer freeze retail prices of some goods, Somchai said.
Meanwhile, many consumer-goods manufacturers have filed complaints to the Commerce Ministry alleging unfair trade practice by modern retailers.
A source from the ministry said some modern traders had overcharged on opportunity-loss fees after suppliers were late with product deliveries because of last year’s flood disaster.
Modern traders have argued that their shelves were empty during product shortages resulting from supply chains being disrupted by the floods.
The ministry has set up a committee to establish fairly entrance fees between suppliers and modern traders.
The committee has called on modern traders to reduce such fees, which sometimes are as high as 40 per cent of the goods’ price.
