ROSE MARKET SLUGGISH AHEAD OF VALENTINE’S DAY
Several flower-garden owners in Chiang Rai province are confronting low purchase orders, particularly for roses, ahead of Valentine’s Day next Tuesday.
Poonsak Kidmoong, owner of Poonsak Rose Garden, said his business was trying to cope with a lack of purchase orders from customers in Chiang Rai itself, in neighbouring provinces, in Laos and in Myanmar.
Previously, he sold 70-80 per cent of his garden’s capacity of 20,000 rose bushes per year. This year, rose sales have fallen by more than half, to 20-30 per cent of capacity. At present, he is growing no more than 5,000 rose bushes.
Other flower gardens have been facing similar difficulties, while some have asked him to deliver their flowers to other areas in Chiang Rai, but he refused, struggling with low orders for his own flowers.
The wholesale price for a rose bush averages Bt30-Bt35, and the retail price is Bt40. The prices cannot be raised in this sluggish market, Poonsak said.
“The reason for the sluggish flower market before the Valentine’s Day period is not certain. But I believe it is result of the economic conditions. People are saving their money or making other choices,” he said.
PEA PROBE FINDS NO WRONGDOING
IN US PROCUREMENT CASE
The Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) said yesterday that its initial investigation had found no wrongdoing in its procurement of cables and wiring in 2012 and 2013.
According to a US Department of Justice statement on December 29, US firm General Cable made a non-prosecution agreement to pay US$20 million (Bt700 million) in penalties for improperly paying government officials in Angola, Bangladesh, China, Indonesia and Thailand to gain business.
The PEA, the Metropolitan Electricity Authority (MEA) and TOT were named as agencies that had received bribes from the Kentucky-based company for the sale of cables and wiring to Thailand from 2002 to 2013.
PEA governor Semsakool Klaikaew said a committee set up to investigate the bribery allegation had reported that the agency procured cables and wires from six companies in 2012 and 2013, which included General Cable subsidiary Phelps Dodge International (Thailand), with the purchases ranked third in terms of procurement value among the six suppliers.
“Every procedure and process and contract was made under an electronic-auction methodology that had a process to control and check every step, and [ensure] that there should not be any channel that would result in [illegal] benefits. The initial finding is that the PEA was not involved with any wrongdoing,” he explained.
