Bt1.5 bn fund sought for price stability next year

Products to be managed under the fund include palm oil, pork and eggs.
Vatchari Vimooktayon, director-general of the Internal Trade Department, said the fund should be able to increase the efficiency of farm-production management. It will help ensure balanced supply and demand and stockpiles for those goods to minimise imbalance problems for both farmers and consumers.
The budget would come under the 2013 fiscal year.
As an urgent measure to solve the problem of falling swine prices amid high retail prices of pork, the department will next week recommended a price for pigs at the farm gate and the retail price.
Farmers currently earn only Bt55 per kilogram for swine at the farm gate. However, the production cost has been calculated at Bt62 per kilo.
The department will control the retail price of pork at Bt110-Bt120 per kilo after receiving many complaints that current prices are too high.
Meanwhile, the department reported that it had fielded more than 3,000 complaints on overly high goods prices and unfair trade practices last year. About 300 cases were also reported to the department in the first three months of this year.