With the depreciation of some currencies against the Thai baht has anyone noticed a reduction in the cost of imported food and other products which must cost less to import?

Yes, I noticed a drop recently in some prices in Makro, imported frozen fruit as an example had dropped by around 20%

1 minute ago, CharlieH said:

Yes, I noticed a drop recently in some prices in Makro, frozen fruit as an example had dropped by around 20%

Maybe turkeys and other Christmas fare will be more affordable this year. Maybe.

With a currency which is well overvalued namely the Bhat and due for a fall possibly what will our good friends running the supermarkets do?

I really have not noticed any price downs say in the price of Imported cheese, wines, toiletries etc with a rising baht, so the supermarkets are obviously increasing their margins on these products and enjoying greater profitability.

So with a falling baht will the supermarkets accept a lesser margin or will they try to maintain current margins on these imported product. 

Cheese, wine, olive oil, decent cuts of meat etc are way above prices in the western world could they soon become an even greater luxury for us. 

Like to know who manipulates the prices on imported wine?  I have cut back 80% in buying due too ridiculous price increases. Noted a 1.5 litre red ( drinkable) has recently gone from 454 baht to 620 baht. No one seems to buy the cardbox wine anymore that has a short shelf life, some dumb prices like 1500 baht  for fruit base wine. Just hope those behind this sting are losing sales and money.

1 hour ago, legend49 said:

Like to know who manipulates the prices on imported wine?  I have cut back 80% in buying due too ridiculous price increases. Noted a 1.5 litre red ( drinkable) has recently gone from 454 baht to 620 baht. No one seems to buy the cardbox wine anymore that has a short shelf life, some dumb prices like 1500 baht  for fruit base wine. Just hope those behind this sting are losing sales and money.

The duty on wine here is some of the highest in the world. There are countless things the government could be doing, if they wanted to attract the high quality tourists. The very first thing would be to repeal the anti farang wine bill, that was passed by a few very corrupt senators way back when, to protect an anemic and truly pathetic local wine industry. They are losing billions of dollars a year in revenue, that could be had from a 100% wine duty, instead of nearly 400%. The five star hotels would have major wine events, and the entire industry would flourish here. If you are a rich tourist, spending $600 a night at the Banyan Tree in Bangkok, it is difficult to even find someone working in that hotel, to have an intelligent conversation with, about the intricacies, the best vintages, and the qualities of the wine you want to order, here in Thailand. The expertise in F & B is really lacking. Even more so, in a high end restaurant that does not have an F & B expert on staff.

 

Thailand, a Buddhist majority country, already has a set of punitive taxes on alcoholic beverages, with taxes on French and American wines, for instance, as high as nearly 400% including excise tax, municipal tax, health tax and import tariff. With the introduction of the recent excise act, tax on imported wines priced above 1,000 baht a bottle will rose by at least 110 baht, the highest jump among beers, spirits and soft drinks, while tax on locally produced domestic wines will drop by 25 baht, according to the new rule. So, this is evidence, that it has nothing to do with the consumption of alcohol. It is all about the consumption of FOREIGN alcohol. 

 

https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2017/09/thailand-tax-increase-hits-wine-hard/

 

 

1 hour ago, legend49 said:

Like to know who manipulates the prices on imported wine?  I have cut back 80% in buying due too ridiculous price increases. Noted a 1.5 litre red ( drinkable) has recently gone from 454 baht to 620 baht. No one seems to buy the cardbox wine anymore that has a short shelf life, some dumb prices like 1500 baht  for fruit base wine. Just hope those behind this sting are losing sales and money.

I made a big mistake the other day. Bought a 5 litre box of red wine knocked down from 1500 to 1000 baht. The date showed it as 6 months old which i thought might be OK. It wasn't. I am not fussy but it had clearly gone bad, totally undrinkable. Be careful out there.

1 hour ago, legend49 said:

Like to know who manipulates the prices on imported wine?  I have cut back 80% in buying due too ridiculous price increases. Noted a 1.5 litre red ( drinkable) has recently gone from 454 baht to 620 baht. No one seems to buy the cardbox wine anymore that has a short shelf life, some dumb prices like 1500 baht  for fruit base wine. Just hope those behind this sting are losing sales and money.

Given up wine, with the falling pound and rising inflation here wine is now an overpriced luxury - certainly at the prices I could afford. I'll stick to beer until things calm down - whenever that may be.

14 minutes ago, Henryford said:

I made a big mistake the other day. Bought a 5 litre box of red wine knocked down from 1500 to 1000 baht. The date showed it as 6 months old which i thought might be OK. It wasn't. I am not fussy but it had clearly gone bad, totally undrinkable. Be careful out there.

Bring it back. If you bought it from a big box store such as Tesco or Makro, you would probably get a refund, a credit or an exchange. Many presume these kinds of things are not possible here. I do it all the time. If they say no, and you make enough of a fuss, make enough noise, become obnoxious, or get the manager involved, often they will give in. Granted, getting money back from the average Thai is quite a challenge, but it can be done, and is always worth a try. 

6 minutes ago, Mansinthe said:

ut prices are really insane here in Thailand for cheese , frozen pizza, tomato sauce (barilla etc), most chocolate.

6€ for 200g of the cheapest cheese?

Pizza costs almost nothing to make at home.

Plenty of good cheese available in Thailand for 200-400bht/Kg

You are in the wrong country if you like wine and cheese and work.  

3 hours ago, legend49 said:

Like to know who manipulates the prices on imported wine?  I have cut back 80% in buying due too ridiculous price increases. Noted a 1.5 litre red ( drinkable) has recently gone from 454 baht to 620 baht. No one seems to buy the cardbox wine anymore that has a short shelf life, some dumb prices like 1500 baht  for fruit base wine. Just hope those behind this sting are losing sales and money.

If losing money due to reduced sales, time for a major price increase. 

30 minutes ago, Mansinthe said:

I miss cheese but didnt buy “falang“ food the last 5 months (cheese, frozen pizza, french fries ) that i would usually eat at home. same for alcohol , chocolate , fruit juices .

 

Lost plenty of weight without to much effort.

 

But prices are really insane here in Thailand for cheese , frozen pizza, tomato sauce (barilla etc), most chocolate..

 

7€ for a frozen ristorante pizza ?

6€ for 200g of the cheapest cheese?

 

I get the high prices for things that are available from thai brands (japanese rice vs thai rice).

 

 

 

 

 

Some things are simply worth avoiding. I love good goat cheese. I buy it for $9-10 a lb. in the US, and carry it back here in my carry on. It costs between 1200 and 2000 baht a kilo here. That is insane. It keeps in the freezer for a long time, though it loses some of it's nice texture if frozen too long. Same with good tequila. I smuggle in as much as I can. If you can find tequila here worth drinking, it is Don Julio silver, at 2,000 baht and up (decent, but not great) or El Jimador (a blue collar tequila in Mexico, but infinitely better than the swill brands you find here, that are export only, and cannot even be found in Mexico, even at $4 a bottle. I will not drink junk (supposedly good) brands like Patron. I usually bring back Casa Noble reposado or anejo, Clase Azul, Fortaleza, San Miguel anejo, Cuervo Reserva de la familia (gorgeous!) and some other very worthy brands. You cannot find them here at any price. A few of the five star hotels have decent brands, at 300-700 baht for a shot! I can buy a full sized bottle of Casa Noble reposado for $40 in the US. And it lasts quite some time. I also bring back alot of dark chocolate. Real quality brands, that cannot be found here. A carry on full of this kind of stuff, and the tequila buried deep within the boxes of supplies. 

Many food prices jump up and down depending on market, and for imported stuff the currency exchange rate when imported.

 

I have noticed that cheese is a bit cheaper right now, and even the price for wine is lower than right after the last tax increase – seems like I can continue to afford cheese and red wine despite of the bad exchange rate situation...????

Excellent value cheese at Siamburys- Pattaya????????????

3 hours ago, Farang99 said:

Given up wine, with the falling pound and rising inflation here wine is now an overpriced luxury - certainly at the prices I could afford. I'll stick to beer until things calm down - whenever that may be.

I too have almost given up on drinking wine and yesterday I bought a box of Beer Lao Dark, my favorite beer, in Makro in Ubon, I was surprised at the price, THB 1608 for 24 bottles, last time I bought it was about THB 1300, so THB 67 for a small bottle of Lao beer is expensive too.

3 minutes ago, perconrad said:

I too have almost given up on drinking wine and yesterday I bought a box of Beer Lao Dark, my favorite beer, in Makro in Ubon, I was surprised at the price, THB 1608 for 24 bottles, last time I bought it was about THB 1300, so THB 67 for a small bottle of Lao beer is expensive too.

It's a joke when you think how much it costs a few miles up the road in Lao..

Just now, transam said:

It's a joke when you think how much it costs a few miles up the road in Lao..

Sure, but to get it in Lao I have to buy a visa for THB 1500 and can only legally buy 6 bottles.

3 minutes ago, perconrad said:

Sure, but to get it in Lao I have to buy a visa for THB 1500 and can only legally buy 6 bottles.

I know, I was making a price comparison...

2 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Pizza costs almost nothing to make at home.

Plenty of good cheese available in Thailand for 200-400bht/Kg

Rimping cheese prices are the best I’ve seen in Thailand.  Nothing comes close in Bangkok.

I stopped buying wine some time back. The increases are pure theft and idiots controlling it all. They only know how to increase the TAX. 

I quit drinking...partially because of he crazy taxes and the fact that Thai beer is almost undrinkable.

6 hours ago, Mansinthe said:

 

A bottle of scotch whisky would set me back 90~110€ here. Back home its 30€. But even the more popular stuff is like double what im used to pay at amazon (free delivery).

 

 

Goat cheese is a good example. Or blue cheese... 

 

But other things are considerable cheaper in Thailand even with the Strong baht.

 

 

 

Your being ripped off if you are paying prices like that in Thailand, or drink some real luxury brand. I buy a bottle of Bells Scotch whisky for 395 baht. I only started buying the Bells because it is now cheaper to buy Bells Scotch whisky than a bottle of Mont Clair fruit wine (the really basic stuff). In the UK, not noted for cheap wine, I can buy a bottle of real wine (nothing special) for one third of the price of Scotch Whisky. A bottle of wine in the UK can be bought for under 4 GBP, or about 40% of the price of Mont Clair here in Thailand. 

 

Since the wine tax doubled, I haven't seen one person buy a bottle of wine in a supermarket in Thailand. I would really like to know how far sales fell after the tax hike.

Can't eat cheese due to bile duct sludge. Thai wine is undrinkable, they need to import some cellarmasters to teach them about enzymes and stuck ferments. Wouldn't get work permits, though. Not to mention face.

 

I stick to Scotch and local beer, relatively cheap.

8 hours ago, Artisi said:

If losing money due to reduced sales, time for a major price increase. 

That's a fine example of Thai logic.

 

They increase prices without thinking, will people buy it? So there it sits on the shelf unsold.

4 hours ago, shaurene said:

I stopped buying wine some time back. The increases are pure theft and idiots controlling it all. They only know how to increase the TAX. 

i did it also

the price for a bottle of table wine is now just ridiculous

19 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Some things are simply worth avoiding. I love good goat cheese. I buy it for $9-10 a lb. in the US, and carry it back here in my carry on. It costs between 1200 and 2000 baht a kilo here. That is insane. It keeps in the freezer for a long time, though it loses some of it's nice texture if frozen too long. Same with good tequila. I smuggle in as much as I can. If you can find tequila here worth drinking, it is Don Julio silver, at 2,000 baht and up (decent, but not great) or El Jimador (a blue collar tequila in Mexico, but infinitely better than the swill brands you find here, that are export only, and cannot even be found in Mexico, even at $4 a bottle. I will not drink junk (supposedly good) brands like Patron. I usually bring back Casa Noble reposado or anejo, Clase Azul, Fortaleza, San Miguel anejo, Cuervo Reserva de la familia (gorgeous!) and some other very worthy brands. You cannot find them here at any price. A few of the five star hotels have decent brands, at 300-700 baht for a shot! I can buy a full sized bottle of Casa Noble reposado for $40 in the US. And it lasts quite some time. I also bring back alot of dark chocolate. Real quality brands, that cannot be found here. A carry on full of this kind of stuff, and the tequila buried deep within the boxes of supplies. 

I usually bring some cheese back but that will come to an end when they bring in the new scanners at the airport.

7 minutes ago, sandyf said:

I usually bring some cheese back but that will come to an end when they bring in the new scanners at the airport.

Are you not allowed to bring cheese into thailand ?

6 minutes ago, Peterw42 said:

Are you not allowed to bring cheese into thailand ?

Of course you are allowed, but here is the tricky part

 

Thailand customs allows visitors to enter Thailand with personal effects, the value of which does not exceed 80,000 Baht, without paying import fees as long as: 1) the items are specifically for personal or professional use; 2) the amount of goods are reasonable; and 3) the items are not subject to restriction or prohibition. 

 

Who gonna determine what is for personal use and reasonable or not?

1 minute ago, Peterw42 said:

Are you not allowed to bring cheese into thailand ?

I don't think any fresh meat or dairy products are allowed, fairly international that.

The scanners will flag up that there is food in the luggage which will then be checked. The hassle alone will become a deterrent apart from any legality.