Fuel Prices Start To Hit Hard

[Jai Dee]

Para rubbers traders in Trang have been troubled on the oil price hike

Para rubber traders in Trang (ตรัง) Province are struggling to carry on their work in the faces of soaring oil prices and the strengthening of baht currency.

Ms. Willada Supitak, the board member of Wood Work Company, said that the price increase of Para rubber has caused Para rubber farmers refuse to sell their goods to the company. She said that the company is facing Para rubber shortage, and it has to cope with the high transportation cost due to the oil price hike. She said that the partnership of the company may be affected from the situation as it cannot distribute its products on time.

She said that even if the company tries to use alternate kinds of wood, the partner company still prefers the products made from Para rubber.

Source: Thai National News Bureau Public Relations Department - 17 May 2006

[Jai Dee]

Department of Fisheries finds cheap fuel for fishermen

The Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives will conduct discussions with the Ministry of Energy to arrive at a plan to assist fishermen with rising fuel costs.

Khunying Sudarat Gayurapan (สุดารัตน์ เกยุราพันธุ์), the minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives, stated that the government's "purple fuel" initiative to assist small fishing operations is currently experiencing difficulties due to a shortage of crude oil to be processed into fuel.

Small fishing operations are reported to be in need of up to 20 million liters of fuel each month, of which Thailand can currently supply only 5 million liters, necessitating the import of foreign oil.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives is therefore assigning the Department of Fisheries the task of overseeing the project's completion.

Source: Thai National News Bureau Public Relations Department - 18 May 2006

[Jai Dee]

Surathani warned bus operators not to raise their transportation fees

Department of Land Transport in Suratthani (สุราษฎร์ธานี ) Province has warned bus operators not to raise their fees as the government has already reduced fuel prices especially for them by 1 baht per liter.

Mrs. Rojjana Arunsakul (โรจนา อรุณสกุล) said that the government has assisted bus operators during this period of time when the price has culminated to US$ 70 per barrel on the global market. The subsidization will be available for three months, May 15th-August 15th.

She added that bus operators wanting to join this program must register their names at the office of the department and show the evidence when they fill up their gas tank.

She said that this program will encourage the bus operators to provide good services to their passengers so that they will turn to use public transportation.

Source: Thai National News Bureau Public Relations Department - 18 May 2006

[Jai Dee]

Energy Minister insisted the retail fuel prices will not reach 30 baht per liter

The Energy Minister, Mr. Viset Choopiban (วิเศษ จูภิบาล), insisted that the retail prices of fuel will not reach 30 baht per liter.

He has affirmed that the retail fuel prices will not surge to 30 baht per liter as the United Nations (UN) has shown signs to help solve the nuclear conflicts in Iran. He added that the demand of fuel is likely to decrease. The current demand is 29 million barrels per day, while the fuel supply is 30.4 million barrels per day.

In regard to the high prices of oil, he said that the situation has made people to be more aware of conserving energy He stated that diesel consumption is decreased by 9 percent, while benzene usage is reduced by 3 percent.

Source: Thai National News Bureau Public Relations Department - 18 May 2006

[sriracha john]

Energy Minister insisted the retail fuel prices will not reach 30 baht per liter

The Energy Minister, Mr. Viset Choopiban (วิเศษ จูภิบาล), insisted that the retail prices of fuel will not reach 30 baht per liter.

He has affirmed that the retail fuel prices will not surge to 30 baht per liter

I see Khun Viset went to through the same "Make Impossible Promises You Can't Possibly Keep" seminar where Khun Thaksin was the star graduate.

Noticed a price of 30.25 a liter on a gas price sign yesterday...

[ovenman]

Noticed a price of 30.25 a liter on a gas price sign yesterday...

Saw today that 95 has also hit that mark in Chiang Mai. But of course, anywhere upcountry is not Bangkok and therefore not Thailand in the eyes of the puuyai who make these absurd promises.

I am surprised that for as high as fuel priced have risen, it doesn't seem to have had a marked effect on the amount of traffic on the roads. Anybody notice differently?

[sriracha john]

Noticed a price of 30.25 a liter on a gas price sign yesterday...

Saw today that 95 has also hit that mark in Chiang Mai. But of course, anywhere upcountry is not Bangkok and therefore not Thailand in the eyes of the puuyai who make these absurd promises.

I am surprised that for as high as fuel priced have risen, it doesn't seem to have had a marked effect on the amount of traffic on the roads. Anybody notice differently?

The effect in this area seems to be that there is an INCREASE in traffic...

Difficult to fathom the how or why...

Paid an all-time high of 1,750 baht for a fill-up yesterday.... for diesel......

[cclub75]

The effect in this area seems to be that there is an INCREASE in traffic...

Difficult to fathom the how or why...

I agree. No sign of decrease of traffic in BKK (i mean individual traffic), even if the governement says officially that consumption of gasoline (or diesel) is going down.

We have to remember that :

-elasticity is very important for this product

it means that price hikes can continue long time before the the consumption really fall.

-we don't see (yet) a big fall in the sales of new cars

-thais people are crazy about theirs cars

without speaking about the people who NEED a car (work for instance), it's clear that they LOVE their car. I mean they will take loan on 30 years, eat mama soup every day, sell everything in their house, in order to continue to drive and to buy gasoline.

I foresee a real psychological breakdown (and economic) when the liter will reach... 50 THB.

Then we will have the pleasure to drive on empty roads.

[sbk]

Department of Fisheries finds cheap fuel for fishermen

The Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives will conduct discussions with the Ministry of Energy to arrive at a plan to assist fishermen with rising fuel costs.

Khunying Sudarat Gayurapan (สุดารัตน์ เกยุราพันธุ์), the minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives, stated that the government's "purple fuel" initiative to assist small fishing operations is currently experiencing difficulties due to a shortage of crude oil to be processed into fuel.

Small fishing operations are reported to be in need of up to 20 million liters of fuel each month, of which Thailand can currently supply only 5 million liters, necessitating the import of foreign oil.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives is therefore assigning the Department of Fisheries the task of overseeing the project's completion.

Source: Thai National News Bureau Public Relations Department - 18 May 2006

High fuel prices haven't stopped them from fishing illegally off the reef at Koh Phangan. . My husband said there they were, at least 3 trawlers fishing illegally about 50m off the reef.

[ColPyat]

-we don't see (yet) a big fall in the sales of new cars

We have though seen a collapse of the second hand car market during the last couple of months. Second hand cars have never been cheaper in Thailand than now. The tents nowadys offer deals in which often no, or only very minimal down payments have to be provided, and cash prizes nearly halfed.

[cclub75]

We have though seen a collapse of the second hand car market during the last couple of months. Second hand cars have never been cheaper in Thailand than now. The tents nowadys offer deals in which often no, or only very minimal down payments have to be provided, and cash prizes nearly halfed.

Interesting. But on which segment ? If your talking about the luxury cars, then it's not really surprising (like the sales of new luxury cars).

On the contrary, on the new pick up market, it's still growth.

On an another hand, there could be another explanation : second hand market falls because now... it's more interesting to buy new cars.

Don't forget a point : second hand cars have been traditionnaly very expensive in asian or poor countries, compare to new.

In the west, on more mature market, a soon as you turn ignition key of your new car, it losts XX % in value.

So we could say that the thai car market is becoming more mature.

Mai ru !

[ColPyat]

Interesting. But on which segment ? If your talking about the luxury cars, then it's not really surprising (like the sales of new luxury cars).

On the contrary, on the new pick up market, it's still growth.

On an another hand, there could be another explanation : second hand market falls because now... it's more interesting to buy new cars.

Don't forget a point : second hand cars have been traditionnaly very expensive in asian or poor countries, compare to new.

In the west, on more mature market, a soon as you turn ignition key of your new car, it losts XX % in value.

So we could say that the thai car market is becoming more mature.

Mai ru !

I don't think that it is a maturing of the market, unfortunately. The collapse coincised with the rise of the fuel prizes. Most traditional buyers of second hand cars are people who cannot qualify for the necessary financing for new cars. I am not an expert in neither cars nor economy, but from what i can see, we are moving towards another crises.

I would love to see reliable statistics, but unfortunately very few independent and trustworthy statistics are available, especially with the TRT government.