Brace Yourselves....20% Inflation!

[Naam]

My foie gras is still around 800 baht

but Iranian caviar and port wine is up and so is imported smoked japanese eel, i.e. the 300 Baht minimum pay hurts us poor Farangs a lot

[harrry]

My foie gras is still around 800 baht

but Iranian caviar and port wine is up and so is imported smoked japanese eel, i.e. the 300 Baht minimum pay hurts us poor Farangs a lot

Yes....the amount paid to the poor overworked Customs people to bring them in has to increase to cover the increased costs the officials in the money train have to spend to cover inflation.

Edited January 14, 2013 by harrry

[CaptHaddock]

Always the same futile discussions about inflation. Everyone cites examples of food purchases which went up even though food is probably only 5% of their household budgets. Their rent, which is probably more like 30% of their budgets, did not go up and is never mentioned in the discussion.

[USNret]

Bloody Luxury, when I was a lad me mam used t' send us down t' butcher shop wi' a slice o'bread to rub on the butchers counter.

You young uns got it easy nowadays

You had bread? You were lucky. When I was a lad, my mum gave me a sheet of glass dipped in rat poison to gnaw on every morning for breakfast & I was glad to have it.

[Naam]

Bloody Luxury, when I was a lad me mam used t' send us down t' butcher shop wi' a slice o'bread to rub on the butchers counter.

You young uns got it easy nowadays

You had bread? You were lucky. When I was a lad, my mum gave me a sheet of glass dipped in rat poison to gnaw on every morning for breakfast & I was glad to have it.

not to forget walking daily barefoot through 25cm snow to school

[Naam]

Always the same futile discussions about inflation. Everyone cites examples of food purchases which went up even though food is probably only 5% of their household budgets. Their rent, which is probably more like 30% of their budgets, did not go up and is never mentioned in the discussion.

i think 5% is too low, it's more like 10-12% if you savour a certain percentage of rather expensive imported food.

[meatboy]

20%inflation,what percentage would you say corruption is?tell that to the thai people.[the ones that work for a crumb]

[impulse]

Bloody Luxury, when I was a lad me mam used t' send us down t' butcher shop wi' a slice o'bread to rub on the butchers counter.

You young uns got it easy nowadays

You had bread? You were lucky. When I was a lad, my mum gave me a sheet of glass dipped in rat poison to gnaw on every morning for breakfast & I was glad to have it.

not to forget walking daily barefoot through 25cm snow to school

Uphill both ways...

[Naam]

Bloody Luxury, when I was a lad me mam used t' send us down t' butcher shop wi' a slice o'bread to rub on the butchers counter.

You young uns got it easy nowadays

You had bread? You were lucky. When I was a lad, my mum gave me a sheet of glass dipped in rat poison to gnaw on every morning for breakfast & I was glad to have it.

not to forget walking daily barefoot through 25cm snow to school

Uphill both ways...

[BEENTHEREDONETHAT]

Bloody Luxury, when I was a lad me mam used t' send us down t' butcher shop wi' a slice o'bread to rub on the butchers counter.

You young uns got it easy nowadays

You had bread? You were lucky. When I was a lad, my mum gave me a sheet of glass dipped in rat poison to gnaw on every morning for breakfast & I was glad to have it.

not to forget walking daily barefoot through 25cm snow to school

And up hill in both directions.

[Naam]

Bloody Luxury, when I was a lad me mam used t' send us down t' butcher shop wi' a slice o'bread to rub on the butchers counter.

You young uns got it easy nowadays

You had bread? You were lucky. When I was a lad, my mum gave me a sheet of glass dipped in rat poison to gnaw on every morning for breakfast & I was glad to have it.

not to forget walking daily barefoot through 25cm snow to school

And up hill in both directions.

even during blizzards!

[Pib]

I was in Makro this morning roaming around the electronics department. I noticed a 14 Jan 13 pricing package/list laying on the counter top which identified the items (mostly in Thai), date, dept, New Price, Old Price, Price Change....but I'm pretty sure it was items for the electronics and auto departments. There were 5 pages in the package with 33 items per page for a total of 165 items. I quickly glanced at each page and with the exception of just a few items which decreased in price very slightly, almost all showed price increases. I then took a picture of the first page...it's attached below.

I then did some percentage price increase/decrease on the 1st, 6th, 12th, 18th, 24th, 30th, and 33rd/last item on the page....got price changes (inflation) of 100%, 10%, 8.9%, 5.9%, 6.2%, 5.9%, and 3.8%. OK, lets disgard that first item showing a 100% price increase...but averaging out the remaining 6 shows a price increase/inflation of 6.8%. You can randomly pick some items from the list and do the math yourself but I expect it will come out pretty close to my kinda random selection. And although these items appeared to be electronics and auto department items, since we do a lot of our shopping at Makro it's been easy to see healthy price increases throughout the store over the last few years...especially on food items. But fortunately, my Chang Daught beer at 452 baht/case has been stable for about a year...although the previous year beer prices had healthy price increases.

Now I don't know when the last price increase on these items was....could have been years ago (highly unlikely), a few months ago, but if forced to bet some of my own money the last price increase was no more than 12 months ago.

I think I need to go live with those folks who are not seeing many price increases because they have found that inflation-free part of Thailand. their diets primarily consist of grass, or the new price still seems cheap to them so it really don't register in their brain inflation is underway. Of course inflation has always and will continue to occur...it's just when it accelerates faster than income/wage increases when it becomes a problem....and from listening to my Thai inlaws and friends it is indeed a problem.

[chiangmaikelly]

I was in Makro this morning roaming around the electronics department. I noticed a 14 Jan 13 pricing package/list laying on the counter top which identified the items (mostly in Thai), date, dept, New Price, Old Price, Price Change....but I'm pretty sure it was items for the electronics and auto departments. There were 5 pages in the package with 33 items per page for a total of 165 items. I quickly glanced at each page and with the exception of just a few items which decreased in price very slightly, almost all showed price increases. I then took a picture of the first page...it's attached below.

I then did some percentage price increase/decrease on the 1st, 6th, 12th, 18th, 24th, 30th, and 33rd/last item on the page....got price changes (inflation) of 100%, 10%, 8.9%, 5.9%, 6.2%, 5.9%, and 3.8%. OK, lets disgard that first item showing a 100% price increase...but averaging out the remaining 6 shows a price increase/inflation of 6.8%. You can randomly pick some items from the list and do the math yourself but I expect it will come out pretty close to my kinda random selection. And although these items appeared to be electronics and auto department items, since we do a lot of our shopping at Makro it's been easy to see healthy price increases throughout the store over the last few years...especially on food items. But fortunately, my Chang Daught beer at 452 baht/case has been stable for about a year...although the previous year beer prices had healthy price increases.

Now I don't know when the last price increase on these items was....could have been years ago (highly unlikely), a few months ago, but if forced to bet some of my own money the last price increase was no more than 12 months ago.

I think I need to go live with those folks who are not seeing many price increases because they have found that inflation-free part of Thailand. their diets primarily consist of grass, or the new price still seems cheap to them so it really don't register in their brain inflation is underway. Of course inflation has always and will continue to occur...it's just when it accelerates faster than income/wage increases when it becomes a problem....and from listening to my Thai inlaws and friends it is indeed a problem.

Do you have a mortgage in Thailand? How much did it go up? Do you pay utilities? How much did they go up? Do you buy things in Dollars or pounds or Yen? How much did they go up? Do you have any outstanding loans? How much did the interest go up? Add all these things up and it comes to about 3%. From the monthly price survey of 417 items of goods and services across Thailand, the Ministry of Commerce reported Consumer Price Indexes of Thailand in March 2012 as the followings: http://www.indexpr.m..._region=country

Edited January 14, 2013 by chiangmaikelly

[Naam]

CMK: Do you pay utilities? How much did they go up?

Do you buy things in Dollars or pounds or Yen? How much did they go up?

electricity went up last year ~15%, after having been stable for those eight years we are living in Thailand.

those with an income in ¥EN saw a price increase of 20% within the last 3½ months of anything they have to pay for in Thai Baht.

[evanson]

Prices on Phuket have risen astronomically in recent years. They'll just use this minimum wage as yet another excuse to rake in more money. Ah well. Will make a change from 'naman paerng'.

[sierra01]

Wow will have to get the next plane back to blighty

You're better off staying there mate, ive just paid £1.19 for a 500gm bag of demerara sugar that was £1 last week! And thats only one item, Tesco cant change the prices quick enough!

[Pib]

I was in Makro this morning roaming around the electronics department. I noticed a 14 Jan 13 pricing package/list laying on the counter top which identified the items (mostly in Thai), date, dept, New Price, Old Price, Price Change....but I'm pretty sure it was items for the electronics and auto departments. There were 5 pages in the package with 33 items per page for a total of 165 items. I quickly glanced at each page and with the exception of just a few items which decreased in price very slightly, almost all showed price increases. I then took a picture of the first page...it's attached below.

I then did some percentage price increase/decrease on the 1st, 6th, 12th, 18th, 24th, 30th, and 33rd/last item on the page....got price changes (inflation) of 100%, 10%, 8.9%, 5.9%, 6.2%, 5.9%, and 3.8%. OK, lets disgard that first item showing a 100% price increase...but averaging out the remaining 6 shows a price increase/inflation of 6.8%. You can randomly pick some items from the list and do the math yourself but I expect it will come out pretty close to my kinda random selection. And although these items appeared to be electronics and auto department items, since we do a lot of our shopping at Makro it's been easy to see healthy price increases throughout the store over the last few years...especially on food items. But fortunately, my Chang Daught beer at 452 baht/case has been stable for about a year...although the previous year beer prices had healthy price increases.

Now I don't know when the last price increase on these items was....could have been years ago (highly unlikely), a few months ago, but if forced to bet some of my own money the last price increase was no more than 12 months ago.

I think I need to go live with those folks who are not seeing many price increases because they have found that inflation-free part of Thailand. their diets primarily consist of grass, or the new price still seems cheap to them so it really don't register in their brain inflation is underway. Of course inflation has always and will continue to occur...it's just when it accelerates faster than income/wage increases when it becomes a problem....and from listening to my Thai inlaws and friends it is indeed a problem.

Do you have a mortgage in Thailand? How much did it go up? Do you pay utilities? How much did they go up? Do you buy things in Dollars or pounds or Yen? How much did they go up? Do you have any outstanding loans? How much did the interest go up? Add all these things up and it comes to about 3%. From the monthly price survey of 417 items of goods and services across Thailand, the Ministry of Commerce reported Consumer Price Indexes of Thailand in March 2012 as the followings: http://www.indexpr.m..._region=country

Nope...no mortgage to go up.. paid for house in cash...no loans. Yeap, pay utilities and they went up around 10% late last year when the govt re-instituted the energy cost tax. Oh, those govt inflation reports from a the commerce ministry part of PM Yinluck's govt....PM Yinluck who said inflation ain't rising late last year which caught her up in a firestorm of Thai's saying what planet does she live on....then she went to the markets, saw prices had risen significantly, and directed her cabinet to fix inflation, use more price controls necessary, etc...that commerce ministry.

[chiangmaikelly]

I was in Makro this morning roaming around the electronics department. I noticed a 14 Jan 13 pricing package/list laying on the counter top which identified the items (mostly in Thai), date, dept, New Price, Old Price, Price Change....but I'm pretty sure it was items for the electronics and auto departments. There were 5 pages in the package with 33 items per page for a total of 165 items. I quickly glanced at each page and with the exception of just a few items which decreased in price very slightly, almost all showed price increases. I then took a picture of the first page...it's attached below.

I then did some percentage price increase/decrease on the 1st, 6th, 12th, 18th, 24th, 30th, and 33rd/last item on the page....got price changes (inflation) of 100%, 10%, 8.9%, 5.9%, 6.2%, 5.9%, and 3.8%. OK, lets disgard that first item showing a 100% price increase...but averaging out the remaining 6 shows a price increase/inflation of 6.8%. You can randomly pick some items from the list and do the math yourself but I expect it will come out pretty close to my kinda random selection. And although these items appeared to be electronics and auto department items, since we do a lot of our shopping at Makro it's been easy to see healthy price increases throughout the store over the last few years...especially on food items. But fortunately, my Chang Daught beer at 452 baht/case has been stable for about a year...although the previous year beer prices had healthy price increases.

Now I don't know when the last price increase on these items was....could have been years ago (highly unlikely), a few months ago, but if forced to bet some of my own money the last price increase was no more than 12 months ago.

I think I need to go live with those folks who are not seeing many price increases because they have found that inflation-free part of Thailand. their diets primarily consist of grass, or the new price still seems cheap to them so it really don't register in their brain inflation is underway. Of course inflation has always and will continue to occur...it's just when it accelerates faster than income/wage increases when it becomes a problem....and from listening to my Thai inlaws and friends it is indeed a problem.

Do you have a mortgage in Thailand? How much did it go up? Do you pay utilities? How much did they go up? Do you buy things in Dollars or pounds or Yen? How much did they go up? Do you have any outstanding loans? How much did the interest go up? Add all these things up and it comes to about 3%. From the monthly price survey of 417 items of goods and services across Thailand, the Ministry of Commerce reported Consumer Price Indexes of Thailand in March 2012 as the followings: http://www.indexpr.m..._region=country

Nope...no mortgage to go up.. paid for house in cash...no loans. Yeap, pay utilities and they went up around 10% late last year when the govt re-instituted the energy cost tax. Oh, those govt inflation reports from a the commerce ministry part of PM Yinluck's govt....PM Yinluck who said inflation ain't rising late last year which caught her up in a firestorm of Thai's saying what planet does she live on....then she went to the markets, saw prices had risen significantly, and directed her cabinet to fix inflation, use more price controls necessary, etc...that commerce ministry.

Do you trust any financial rating agencies in the world or do you know more about economics than they do? It makes little sense to debate with a person who knows more than all the economists in the world is why I asked.

[Pib]

You're right...inflation in Thailand is only rising 3%/year....I just can't understand why most Thai's are complaining so much about high inflation...I have them give you call so you can explain it to them. Cheers.

[chiangmaikelly]

You're right...inflation in Thailand is only rising 3%/year....I just can't understand why most Thai's are complaining so much about high inflation...I have them give you call so you can explain it to them. Cheers.

That was not a decent answer. If you are right and all the economists are wrong why don't you tell us? Housing is the largest cost of inflation. Did you make a good move paying for your house or would you have been better off to borrow the money at 1 to 3% and and put the cash to work for you in the SET which went up 33% last year. If your house is worth a couple of million baht how much would you have made in a SET index fund and subtract that from your cost of living and what would your inflation rate have been?

[Pib]

I threw my stock market (casino) crystal ball away...it failed me too many times.

[chiangmaikelly]

There are only 2 or 3 countries in the world with an inflation rate over 20. Does anyone really think Thailand is in the same boat as Sudan or Ethiopia. Come on fellows I realize it is fun to mock Thailand but 20% inflation is just nonsense.

[MrRealDeal]

You're right...inflation in Thailand is only rising 3%/year....I just can't understand why most Thai's are complaining so much about high inflation...I have them give you call so you can explain it to them. Cheers.

That was not a decent answer. If you are right and all the economists are wrong why don't you tell us? Housing is the largest cost of inflation. Did you make a good move paying for your house or would you have been better off to borrow the money at 1 to 3% and and put the cash to work for you in the SET which went up 33% last year. If your house is worth a couple of million baht how much would you have made in a SET index fund and subtract that from your cost of living and what would your inflation rate have been?

The answer is the inflation rate would have been the same , you would just have more money to spend. It's like saying that if you got a promotion at work the more expensive coffee you buy has no inflation !

[chiangmaikelly]

You're right...inflation in Thailand is only rising 3%/year....I just can't understand why most Thai's are complaining so much about high inflation...I have them give you call so you can explain it to them. Cheers.

That was not a decent answer. If you are right and all the economists are wrong why don't you tell us? Housing is the largest cost of inflation. Did you make a good move paying for your house or would you have been better off to borrow the money at 1 to 3% and and put the cash to work for you in the SET which went up 33% last year. If your house is worth a couple of million baht how much would you have made in a SET index fund and subtract that from your cost of living and what would your inflation rate have been?

The answer is the inflation rate would have been the same , you would just have more money to spend. It's like saying that if you got a promotion at work the more expensive coffee you buy has no inflation !

In order to lock in a price of a commodity one buys futures of that commodity. Thailand has very low inflation and a high rate of return on its stock market right now. One would have to be silly to buy things for cash when you can get loans at between 1 and 3%.

[midas]

Inflation Propaganda Exposed

[davejones]

Things are so cheap here it's hard to notice any price rises.I can't think of anything that's risen in price, apart from season stuff that goes up and down in price over the year. In general I haven't noticed any real change in almost 3 years. Things were cheap then and they're still cheap now. If poorer workers get more money and I have to help pay for it, I'm happy to do that. Many on here seem to want to people to work for 250 baht a day so that they can save 2 baht on a bottle of water. Shocking.

And how does the OP come to the conclusion that we'll get 20% inflation. Such utter nonsense. Better take and Econ 101 course.

Edited January 14, 2013 by davejones

[qdinthailand]

so I'm not the only one seeing an increase. the nescafe coffee it's a red can went from 400 baht to 540 baht.

Sent from my GT-I9300T using Thaivisa Connect App

The price of Nescafe is not a good indicator of prices in Thailand - its a global commodity, based on world coffee prices.

BTW - Nescafe instant coffee is made from the beans rejected from 'whole bean' coffee lots - one of the first stages in coffee bean processing.

Why would a global commodity based on world coffee prices be a good indicator of inflation in Thailand? It would in fact be the opposite.

ChiangMaiKelly:

Reading your comment, which completely, totally fails to understand my comment - and other comments you have made in this topic - are you always this way, or you just particularly grumpy and ornery today?

[qdinthailand]

Commenting on the price of Imported Goods in Thailand is in no way related to inflation in Thailand. It may relate to your cost of goods - and it may be due to price increases in production outside of Thailand and distribution to Thailand or even import duties on those goods - but has squat to do with inflation in Thailand.

You have the luxury of being able to not buy imported goods. Your costs will drop accordingly.

Inflation in Thailand is when the locals can't afford the cost of living.

[chiangmaikelly]

so I'm not the only one seeing an increase. the nescafe coffee it's a red can went from 400 baht to 540 baht.

Sent from my GT-I9300T using Thaivisa Connect App

The price of Nescafe is not a good indicator of prices in Thailand - its a global commodity, based on world coffee prices.

BTW - Nescafe instant coffee is made from the beans rejected from 'whole bean' coffee lots - one of the first stages in coffee bean processing.

Why would a global commodity based on world coffee prices be a good indicator of inflation in Thailand? It would in fact be the opposite.

ChiangMaiKelly:

Reading your comment, which completely, totally fails to understand my comment - and other comments you have made in this topic - are you always this way, or you just particularly grumpy and ornery today?

Sorry I should have been more specific. I was agreeing with you in that we both pointed out that livinthailandos was in error.

[haveaniceday]

Pad Thai Jan 1 increased by 33%, that's after portion sizes shrank a couple of months ago.