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Govt seeks to keep lid on cooking oil price via plam oil imports
Commerce Ministry will soon meet with producers of refined palm oil in order to convince them to maintain the retail price of cooking oil in exchange for allowing the import of crude palm oil, which would slow rising prices.
The move comes after the Cabinet yesterday approved the import of 40,000 tonnes of crude palm oil in bid to stem the rising price of cooking oil in the country.
Cooking-oil producers want to raise the retail price from the current Bt42 per litre bottle, citing the higher cost of oil-palm fruit.
However, the government does not want to see a price hike due to the impact it would have on consumers.
It has decided instead to allow the import of crude palm oil in order to decelerate rising domestic prices.
Commerce Minister Boonsong Teriyapirom said the government would discuss the matter with palm-oil producers before starting to import crude palm oil, in order to ensure balanced supply and demand.
Derivatives open to individual investors
Starting from July 1, individual investors will be allowed to freely invest in overseas-listed derivatives.
Securities and Exchange Commission secretary-general Vorapol Socatiyanurak yesterday said the Capital Market Supervisory Board had amended the rules, lifting the limitation on investment purposes.
“This is to increase the variety of investment choices and enhance their experience in overseas investment,” he said.
At present, such investment is limited to hedging purposes only.
Some protection will remain, though, as the board requires all underwriters (banks and securities firms) to conduct a suitability test, so that they can offer products and investment advice according to an investor’s financial ability.
Unsecured loans from Krung Thai
Krung Thai Bank has introduced unsecured loans for customers who have no payroll accounts with the bank by offering a maximum loan of Bt5 million for up to 10 years.
Senior executive vice president said yesterday that the new product had been developed to increase liquidity for customers who have fixed income, and for entrepreneurs offering assets as collateral.
The product also includes an overdraft facility with a credit term of one year.
Borrowers given an unsecured loan will be subject to an interest rate of the minimum retail rate plus 3.5 percentage points per annum.
AIS nominates chief marketing officer
Advanced Info Service yesterday announced the nomination of its senior executive vice president for marketing, Somchai Lertsutiwong, as chief marketing officer.
GE energy-saving lighting innovation
GE Lighting (Thailand), a leader in energy-saving lighting innovation from the United States, is introducing the highly efficient electronic-sensor compact fluorescent lamp (CFL), using technology initiatives from GE.
Besides its compact size, the lamp provides benefits of two built-in sensors that can detect ambient brightness and automatically switch on and off, depending on light level.
Users of the CFL can be certain that the sensors will save energy during the day when light is not needed, while being there to provide brightness and security at night, the company said.
