Expect expensive Mother’s Day as jasmine price soars to THB1,200/kg
Children seeking jasmine flowers for Mother’s Day this week could be in for a shock. Short supply coupled with high demand has sent prices for the flowers soaring 400 per cent to 1,200 baht per kilogram.
The flowers are used to make garlands that children place around their mothers’ necks and wrists in ceremonial displays of love and respect on August 12 each year.
Farmers in Khon Kaen said a kilo of their jasmine flowers is now fetching 1,200 baht as garland makers scramble to meet surging demand.
The perfumed flowers are in steady demand all year round as a popular adornment for Buddhist holy days, which happen four times a month.
However, this year the spike in demand ahead of Mother’s Day has coincided with shortages in the North after storms damaged farmers’ fields.
Somboon Ampaiwong, 60, a resident of Tambon Sila in Muang district, said jasmine from his one-rai plot is selling fast at flower shops in downtown Khon Kaen.
Normally, farmers sell the jasmine flowers for only 300 baht per kilo, he added.
He said the flower shops sell jasmine garlands for Bt50 to Bt200 each, depending on the size.
Mother’s Day falls on Friday.