The Internal Trade Department (ITD) has announced plans to ask mall operators to keep prices of food court dishes from rising unreasonably. The ITD will also attempt to maintain the price of palm oil at THB42 a bottle.
Department director-general Wibunlak Ruamrak has disclosed that she will meet with the retailers this week to reemphasize her request for each food court shop to provide at least some dishes that cost between THB30 and THB35, to help keep the cost of living from expanding unecessarily. This meeting with retailers is being called after ITD officials found that some food court stalls have raised the price of dishes to THB40, from THB35. The stalls claim to have raised their prices because they were affected by an increase in the price of cooking gas. Wibunlak said this was not a reasonable claim, but said the request for the price-capping will be on a voluntary, not mandatory, basis.
As for palm oil, Wibunlak said the ceiling for the commodity’s retail price will be maintained at THB42 per one-liter bottle. This is being done to prevent palm growers’ profits from dropping even further. The price of palm oil has already dropped to THB2.9 – 3 per kilogram. With the drop in raw material cost, palm oil can practically be retailed at THB35 – 39 per one-liter bottle. However, some brands may incur advertising costs as additional expenses, making it difficult for them to cut their price, Wibunlak noted.
