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Thailand’s commerce minister said Tuesday that domestic palm oil prices would fall this week with exports from Indonesia flooding the market, amid a living cost crisis caused by record high inflation.
Cooking palm oil prices have climbed sharply once Indonesia, the world’s largest supplier, temporarily stopped palm oil exports in April and May.
But now that Indonesia’s exports have picked up and prices are going down, people are noticing that the prices of their cooking oil have not fallen accordingly.
“The prices remain high because the stock was acquired at a high price,” minister Jurin Laksanawisit told reporters. He has urged officials to closely monitor the situation and adjust the prices down as soon as possible.
According to Department of Internal Trade’s data, the retail palm oil price stood at nearly 70 baht per litre as of the end of June, compared to the average of 55 baht last year.
When asked about the price hike on milk products, Jurin pledged that the government will cap the prices as long as possible. “We are trying to preserve the interests of all parties while seeking for public good.” he said.
“We need to increase the prices for certain products in accordance with the current situation,” Juirn added.
In June, Thailand’s inflation rate approached a 14-year high by rising 7.66 per cent from a year earlier, the highest rate since July 2008. For the first six months of 2022, Inflation has jumped 5.6 per cent from last year.
Economists are widely anticipating the Bank of Thailand to start raising its policy rate to tackle inflation at the Monetary Policy Committee meeting on August 10.