Retailers try to make a fast buck amid coronavirus crisis
Some retailers are continuing to cash in on the new coronavirus outbreak by defying government regulations and jacking up the price of high-demand items like face masks.
The Cabinet is considering adding face masks and hand wash gels to the list of controlled products which cannot sell higher than the normal price.
A survey by media outlets of the flea market next to the Interlink Tower in Bangna district, Bangkok on Wednesday morning (February 5), found some merchants selling 3M N95 face masks at Bt129 each, three to four times the normal price of Bt25 to Bt40 per each.
The merchant said that they had received the products from the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO). A sales representative of 3M face mask importer said the company did not intend to make a profit during the prolonged crisis, adding that citizens can buy the product from the representative directly.
Meanwhile, the Department of Internal Trade said that it would send officials to arrest merchants found hoarding masks or selling at a high price after the department received hundreds of complaints.
“People who hoard or sell masks at a high price will face seven years' imprisonment and a Bt140,000 fine,” the official warned.
