What is happening with prices, and Thanks to this forum

[Chiengmaijoe]

Prices rise when idiots keep paying. If some opportunistic greedy little vendor tries raising his or her price then move on. The trouble is all the two week millionaires who think they look big and rich when they pay whatever the asking price is cos it's "cheaper than London" (when in fact it's often a lot more expensive).

If I go to a cafe whee I'm used to paying 30 baht for a cup of tea and one day he said I've increased my price to 50 then I'm not paying, I will move on. That's not because I don't have an extra 20 baht with me. It's because if you give in everyone gives in to inflation then before you know it a little inflation turns into an inflationary spiral and suddenly you become considerably poorer over your lifetime, as everything will rise. The two week millionaires will then scratch their thick heads and wonder why they can't afford to go on holiday.

Now, as individuals we can not be sure that other individuals will behave similarly. But if we just say, what can I do as I'm only one person and give up then the game is all over, it has to start with individuals. So be individually responsible and let everyone you know that you do that. If it was common knowledge that it's acceptable and good to resist price rises then thee would be no price rises.

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Which university did you get your degree in economics from?

[Lancelot]

Inflation= too many baht chasing too few goods and services

I'm surprised that inflation is not higher considering:

1 Full employment in Thailand

2 Thai government stimulus

3 Easy money policies of central banks world wide. A lot of that extra cash ends up in developing economies like Thailand

[Frank James]

Live in the Past. it's cheaper there.

[Chiengmaijoe]

Thinking about it further, Paddy's economic theory could work in practice. If you all stopped buying food for only a matter of 3 or 4 days a good proportion of you would die. That would of course mean a big drop in demand, and that would inevitably lead to a fall in prices. Go for it I say. It was nice knowing you Paddy.

[cmsally]

Not really so, you just go somewhere that is lower down the supply chain. If someone sells veg they grow themselves locally it is mostly cheaper. If someone sells coffee in their own place rather than rented premises, likely cheaper.

If someone is selling from a simple place with plastic stools and rickety furniture likely cheaper.

A lot of inflation is caused by people making miscalculated business decisions thinking they can spend xxx amount to rake in extra x profit. A lot of the time the big guys do it as they can offset the cost and then make a profit when the small guys try to follow and go broke, they can then hike up the cost when they have a captive audience.

[elektrified]

Fresh coconuts used to be 22Baht at Rimping, now I think around 40!

A prime example of shopping foolishness, why on earth would you buy local fruit from Rimping?

Go to the local markets.

I looked at the prices of Yellow mango in Rimping, those ones with the pink blush, 80bht/kg in Rimping & Tops, 20bht/kg at my local stall.

So only fools buy fruit at Rimping. Good one.

There sure are a lot of Thais in Rimping buying fruit as they love the imported fruits like cherries, etc. that you can't get elsewhere. But local fruits are always cheaper in the Thai markets.

[AnotherOneAmerican]

Fresh coconuts used to be 22Baht at Rimping, now I think around 40!

A prime example of shopping foolishness, why on earth would you buy local fruit from Rimping?

Go to the local markets.

I looked at the prices of Yellow mango in Rimping, those ones with the pink blush, 80bht/kg in Rimping & Tops, 20bht/kg at my local stall.

So only fools buy fruit at Rimping. Good one.

There sure are a lot of Thais in Rimping buying fruit as they love the imported fruits like cherries, etc. that you can't get elsewhere. But local fruits are always cheaper in the Thai markets.

Well done Electrified, you noticed my use of "local fruit", which some others managed to miss.

I'm noticing very little price increase in the ingredients, but large increases in the final products.

So my answer, is to make as much as I can myself from the basics.

I'm also getting 15% more from my $$ since last year, so for me, things are getting much cheaper, and the quality is often better too.

[CNXBKKMAN]

I find the same product for differnt prices at differnt places, what I call shopping (as opposed to buying which is what my GF does when she sees shoes she doesn't need).

I sells coconuts for 2 bht ea. to the guy who collects them and at Makro they sell them usually for around 22 bht ea. recently

So true regarding shopping. Me and the gf were recently shopping for two new beds. We saw some nice ones in Homepro, price wasnt too bad , looked good. Gf wasn't happy when we didn't just buy them straight away. I said we haven't looked in the other shops yet to see what they have, we can always come back to homepro later. We looked at a few more shops. Bought two better beds that we were more happy with and the cost was about 10000 baht cheaper overall than the first ones we saw at homepro.

[chiang mai]

The more THB weakens, the worse price inflation becomes and you were warned many times!

What do you want, cheap cost of living or an exchange rate that makes you happy!!

[quidnunc]

Inflation= too many baht chasing too few goods and services

I'm surprised that inflation is not higher considering:

1 Full employment in Thailand

2 Thai government stimulus

3 Easy money policies of central banks world wide. A lot of that extra cash ends up in developing economies like Thailand

Actually, inflation in most of the world is at historic low levels.

[Saan]

OP welcome to reality. Thailand ain't the cheap place we used to read about in travel books 25 years ago is it?. now, it costs more to live here than in some European cities.

Prices rise. In the early seventies I had a book caked 'Bali on a dollar a day' and it wasn't far off. Try it on $200 a day now and you would be roughing it.

[paddyjenkins]

Thinking about it further, Paddy's economic theory could work in practice. If you all stopped buying food for only a matter of 3 or 4 days a good proportion of you would die. That would of course mean a big drop in demand, and that would inevitably lead to a fall in prices. Go for it I say. It was nice knowing you Paddy.

You misunderstand...the idea isnt to starve, its to shop around for the best prices.

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[quidnunc]

The more THB weakens, the worse price inflation becomes and you were warned many times!

What do you want, cheap cost of living or an exchange rate that makes you happy!!

Actuallly not.

It's true that imported goods will become more costly in baht at a rate consistent on average with the rate of decline in the baht. But presumably, if your income is in dollars or euros or pounds or whatever, that baht increase will beexactly offset by the increase in your currency's exchange rate.

And since the price of domestic goods will only be, at most, partially influenced by the devaluation of the baht, in this case the foreign currency holder will come out ahead. So it is a win for you if your income is in foreign currency, provided of course that that currency is increasing in value in relation to the baht. If you're holding Iraqi dinars, then you're out of luck.

[chiang mai]

The more THB weakens, the worse price inflation becomes and you were warned many times!

What do you want, cheap cost of living or an exchange rate that makes you happy!!

Actuallly not.

It's true that imported goods will become more costly in baht at a rate consistent on average with the rate of decline in the baht. But presumably, if your income is in dollars or euros or pounds or whatever, that baht increase will beexactly offset by the increase in your currency's exchange rate.

And since the price of domestic goods will only be, at most, partially influenced by the devaluation of the baht, in this case the foreign currency holder will come out ahead. So it is a win for you if your income is in foreign currency, provided of course that that currency is increasing in value in relation to the baht. If you're holding Iraqi dinars, then you're out of luck.

Actually so:

I was thinking in terms of the country that I've lived in for the past ten years and the native population who unlike me, don't hold foreign currencies, THB is a currency of the local population, not an expat currency!

[onthedarkside]

2 posts removed in an effort to curtail the bickering between 2 members.

[soalbundy]

Free coconuts at my place - there's a catch , you have to go up the tree to get them!

Right, and that is another reason why the price of coconuts has risen, is getting people to collect the coconuts. On a recent trip to Trat where the coconuts are delicious and plentiful, they cost the same as anywhere else - about 40 Baht each. The growers told us that that they can't get the Cambodian workers to pick coconuts for any less than 500 Baht per day.

In Bangsaphan, south of Hua Hin,where we holiday, we are always fascinated by the monkeys, on long chains, who scramble up the tree and select the fruit that is ready for harvesting and drop it to the ground.

I doubt they have had a pay rise or a day off.

Yes, 25 or more years ago it was common to see that in Koh Samui. The tourists were amused by it. During the month we spent in Trat we only saw one guy with a monkey who picked the fruit (on Koh Kood). The locals said the owner was a bad guy and mistreated and over-worked the monkey. But there is only so many coconuts a monkey can get in a day compared to workers with all the climbing gear and people below loading them up.

About 15 years ago in Koh Samui i followed a truck loaded with coconuts,on top of the coconuts were two monkeys on short chains attached to the cab. The monkeys were getting their revenge by, every now and again, throwing coconuts off of the truck,the owner lost about 20 coconuts in the short time i followed him,well done i thought.

[Thailand]

Even umbrellas are going up!

[Rimbuman]

Also Bread central festival food land müsli Bread few days ago 60bt yesterday 109bt increase of almost 90%

More expensieve Then europe.?

Don't buy food and coffee in silly places.

Coffee, plenty of places selling for 25-40bht.

Bread, who would buy that in a Thai shop, nasty stuff?

Flour is still the same price, so why is bread price going up?

Rolled oats, 60bht for 500gm, that's the main ingredient of muesli.

Specialist foreigner supermarkets are not really the best places to buy cheap household items.

Agree, Makro, Big C are ok, the foreigner supermarkets we go if we want good quality ingredients the local supermarkets don't have.

I also noticed a take off in the price of pasta sauce they sell in jars, but still managed to get it for a ok price at Makro.

[tigermonkey]

Also Bread central festival food land müsli Bread few days ago 60bt yesterday 109bt increase of almost 90%

More expensieve Then europe.?

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I've only been in Chiang Mai 30 months, and I've never heard of this Carrefour place. where is it?

It closed about 2 years ago.

Not closed - Carrefour sold their Thai chain of stores to Big C. Big C renamed them all to Big C Extra.

[Rimbuman]

Thinking about it further, Paddy's economic theory could work in practice. If you all stopped buying food for only a matter of 3 or 4 days a good proportion of you would die. That would of course mean a big drop in demand, and that would inevitably lead to a fall in prices. Go for it I say. It was nice knowing you Paddy.

That sounds plausible.

[arcturaz]

I live in Chiang Mai and therefore I can support the premise that prices are certainly escalating rapidly. I have found it neccessary to 'divide and rule' so to speak; that is I go to several different places as I find no one place is sufficient for all my families needs. Below is a short list of what I have found to be the best options so far.

Rimping - Very little - only super specialty items that are not available at any of the markets listed below

Local Farmers Market (I live in Hang Dong) - Basic local veggies; Pork (not every cut but basic ones); fish; fruits etc

Macro - The single best market for the best prices bar none; Yes prices higher then a while back but overall the best bang for the buck compared to ANY other local market (except farmers markets in some respects) - Macro seems to be getting better as Rimping gets worse - Imported cold cuts; decent cheese selection (affordable Parmesan; mozzarella; emmental, Romano etc); Lamb; Raviolis, Fish (tolerable but hardly fresh), Milk; Soap; Children's formula; Dog Food etc etc etc

Big C (Home Pro Branch) - decent green japan melons, watermelon etc

Beef - Northern Farms (Doi Suthep Road; might be the wrong name; unsure?) - acceptable quality Charolais beef - cheaper then the KU Cuts at Rimping (however some NZ Cuts at Rimping are not too bad)

Pork - Rimping but I would like to find an alternative; I think too expensive

Real Quality bakery and pastries - such as bagels; danishes and breads (I am from NYC) - NONE! (some minor action at Tops and Rimping but far off the mark really)

Wine - Truffles - Sun Dried Tomatoes etc - some meats too - Buonissimo

Changklan Rd, Pa Daet, Mueang Chiang Mai District, Chiang Mai 50100
053 275 924

Coffee - Hilkoft (Chiang Mai city) or ALTI COFFEE on Hang Dong Road just before the Big C on the right hand side (heading away from the city)

Hope this list is useful to anyone

cheers

E

[Gillyflower]

Carrefour is a French group. Didn't move with the times and made some bad investments at home, so had to cut down a lot. Sold out to Big C, the Casino group, also French.

[chiang mai]

Carrefour is a French group. Didn't move with the times and made some bad investments at home, so had to cut down a lot. Sold out to Big C, the Casino group, also French.

If you dig a little deeper you'll see in the many press reports that "Carfoo" refused to pay bribes in SE Asia any longer and left mostly for that reason, that was the publicity angle at least.

[AnotherOneAmerican]

Real Quality bakery and pastries - such as bagels; danishes and breads (I am from NYC) - NONE! (some minor action at Tops and Rimping but far off the mark really)

Bread flour is 32bht/kilo, that's two real loaves for 32bht, 16 bht each.

Pastry flour, 26bht/kg, Palm oil margarine 45bht/kg, so pastry in various incarnations about 30bht/kg, Pastry case for a pie at about 2bht each.

So a fruit pie costs under 7bht (using in-season fruit), meat and potato pie under 15 bht (materials only).

Really guys, it's very quick & easy to make bread and pastry, and quite satisfying too.

Maybe we should shart some baking workshops in CM!

[Toby Jugg]

Why does it take 4-5 hours for my TV to arrive?

Prices? Be selective. Shop around. Buy fruit that is in season.

Ngo I saw yesterday at 10 baht a kilo.

Bon Café sells 4 x 250 grm bags for 99 baht a bag

One bag makes 20 enormous cups. That's 5 baht a cup.

Tell me a European city that is cheaper than Thailand, na khrap!

[Paulzed]

The shins must be back in town!!!

[Mudcrab]

You don't think that the tripling of the minimum wage might have something to do with price rises??

[wvavin]

Did you know that there are 76 more provinces to choose from if you find that Chiangmai is too expensive for you?

[wvavin]

If we are price watching: pineapples in Lotus around 29-35 Bt per pineapple. In the market 30 Bt per kilo which works out more per pineapple. Cheap in Muang Mai market but big problem with a disease that makes them brown in the middle.

Pineapples from Lotus also last longer as they are kept in AC.

That's my tip for the day!

Mate, its the chemical that makes them last longer. Got it?

[chiang mai]

Did you know that there are 76 more provinces to choose from if you find that Chiangmai is too expensive for you?

True, but can you name eight of them, you have one minute from now, go!

• EDIT: you loose.