Middlemen keeping fresh food prices high despite lower oil prices

BANGKOK, 12 January 2015 (NNT) - Retailers are asking the government for help as commodity prices remain high despite lower oil prices.

Fresh food prices have reportedly increased even though cheaper gas prices could have reduced the production cost.

The retailers believed the middlemen have been behind the rising prices. They urged the government to keep them at bay and maintain the prices at a reasonable level.

Prices of meat, eggs, cooking oil and fruits have not declined at most markets in Bangkok. However, many fresh food vendors are happy with lower income while they are trying to help consumers.

Many families have now turned to ready-to-eat meals as fresh ingredients are too expensive.


-- NNT 2015-01-12

"The retailers believed the middlemen have been behind the rising prices."

That's the goal of every middleman. No matter what country. The farmer/producer and the final consumer get screwed, and the middlemen make out like a bandit...Which they usually are.

Food prices in Malaysia, which is a much more developed country with higher worker income have lower food prices? Time to cut the middle man out!

Soy milk 1 ltr @Big C 28 THB

Soy milk 1 ltr in Malaysia big supermarket MYR 25 (~25 THB). Same product identical package in Big C Thailand 48 THB! For me, the Malay product is of higher quality!

farmers coops have been an effective tool against the middlemans excessive profit in many countries. its does not require a whole lot of cooperation between the farmers and the retail shopsfor much of the farm products. Thailand even has middlemen directly involved between the farmer and some of the wholesalers.

One racist comment has been deleted from this topic.

Thailand has become a very expensive place to live in recent years. Much more expensive than in Northh America. Of course, according to Yinkluck, it's all in my imagination.

Time for the Aldi to come to Thailand, everything will be affordable and from a good quality. Thai will all love it!

The Heck with Aldis [even though a great store] Bring Costco ;-)

Time for the Aldi to come to Thailand, everything will be affordable and from a good quality. Thai will all love it!

So you moved to Thailand to shop at Aldi??

Hell no!!

If you guys left your ghettos once in a while and went to the local fresh markets: Plenty of cheap/exotic produce, genuine Thai atmosphere and in general a lot of friendly people!!

That is Thailand!!

IMO the middlemen in this country have been raking it in for years for virtually doing nothing but I suppose like everything here there are too many vested interests involved to cut them out. Perhaps some gentle persuasion from the good general to have them be a bit more fair. It is totally unfair for them to increase prices when transport costs should be going down. As for the large retailers surely they cut out the middlemen long ago.

IMO the middlemen in this country have been raking it in for years for virtually doing nothing but I suppose like everything here there are too many vested interests involved to cut them out. Perhaps some gentle persuasion from the good general to have them be a bit more fair. It is totally unfair for them to increase prices when transport costs should be going down. As for the large retailers surely they cut out the middlemen long ago.

"Perhaps some gentle persuasion from the good general to have them be a bit more fair."

We can't have the (General) Prime Minister "gently persuading" the free market on what prices to charge. <snip>

The middlemen might be some of his high-ranking friends.

Time for the Aldi to come to Thailand, everything will be affordable and from a good quality. Thai will all love it!

So you moved to Thailand to shop at Aldi??

Hell no!!

If you guys left your ghettos once in a while and went to the local fresh markets: Plenty of cheap/exotic produce, genuine Thai atmosphere and in general a lot of friendly people!!

That is Thailand!!

and genuine food poisoning with exotic bacterias

Wasn't something said the other day as a reason or excuse that delivery costs haven't fallen despite the lower oil prices as so many delivery vehicles are now NGV not diesel ?

Time for the Aldi to come to Thailand, everything will be affordable and from a good quality. Thai will all love it!

So you moved to Thailand to shop at Aldi??

Hell no!!

If you guys left your ghettos once in a while and went to the local fresh markets: Plenty of cheap/exotic produce, genuine Thai atmosphere and in general a lot of friendly people!!

That is Thailand!!

and genuine food poisoning with exotic bacterias

My stomach has adjusted!!

BTW last time I got sick from food was in a high-end expensive Swedish owned restaurant having a steak imported from Australia.............................

Just saying.............

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

farmers coops have been an effective tool against the middlemans excessive profit in many countries. its does not require a whole lot of cooperation between the farmers and the retail shopsfor much of the farm products. Thailand even has middlemen directly involved between the farmer and some of the wholesalers.

I've suggested this many times over the decades and it has never been picked up , guess they are all too busy have in Coups.

Time for the Aldi to come to Thailand, everything will be affordable and from a good quality. Thai will all love it!

So you moved to Thailand to shop at Aldi??

Hell no!!

If you guys left your ghettos once in a while and went to the local fresh markets: Plenty of cheap/exotic produce, genuine Thai atmosphere and in general a lot of friendly people!!

That is Thailand!!

and genuine food poisoning with exotic bacterias

If you use good food hygiene practices you will get rid of exotic bacteria.

Time for the Aldi to come to Thailand, everything will be affordable and from a good quality. Thai will all love it!

So you moved to Thailand to shop at Aldi??

Hell no!!

If you guys left your ghettos once in a while and went to the local fresh markets: Plenty of cheap/exotic produce, genuine Thai atmosphere and in general a lot of friendly people!!

That is Thailand!!

and genuine food poisoning with exotic bacterias

My stomach has adjusted!!

BTW last time I got sick from food was in a high-end expensive Swedish owned restaurant having a steak imported from Australia.............................

Just saying.............

seems there is a love relationship in Thailand with out of date food, I am always finding it at the 7/11 shops etc and the fact that a lot of places defrost then refreeze food repeatedly rather than have to throw it out doesnt help. Fresh is great when you want it but there are some things you cannot get at the markets plus I am loathe to buy meat etc that is sitting in the sun with blow flies all over it

Thailand has become a very expensive place to live in recent years. Much more expensive than in Northh America. Of course, according to Yinkluck, it's all in my imagination.

You are dead right there mate. 12 Months ago, I sat down and had a really good think about this. Then packed my bags and went the Philippines, I havn't looked back since.

Maybe more people need to vote with their feet. Its more expensive than some parts of the UK. And the train aint stoppin !!

Food prices in Malaysia, which is a much more developed country with higher worker income have lower food prices? Time to cut the middle man out!

Soy milk 1 ltr @Big C 28 THB

Soy milk 1 ltr in Malaysia big supermarket MYR 25 (~25 THB). Same product identical package in Big C Thailand 48 THB! For me, the Malay product is of higher quality!

Dream again if you think the government will step in to rectify things.

Time for the Aldi to come to Thailand, everything will be affordable and from a good quality. Thai will all love it!

and Walmart and Target. Shake things up with more competition.

The easy answer is to shop at the local markets, they're easy enough to find and quality and hygiene standards are usually quite high whilst the savings can be remarkable. Today we bought a bunch of banana's, twenty three in fact, the cost was 28 baht. At Rimping supermarket the cost is 29 baht for five - and so on and so on.

Most middlemen are not Thai:

Tesco = British

Tops = Dutch

Villa = Farang

etc etc.

Most middlemen are not Thai:

Tesco = British

Tops = Dutch

Villa = Farang

etc etc.

Any company that operates in Thailand must be at least 51% Thai!

And actually, the companies you listed are not middlemen but are instead consumer sales outlets.

farmers coops have been an effective tool against the middlemans excessive profit in many countries. its does not require a whole lot of cooperation between the farmers and the retail shopsfor much of the farm products. Thailand even has middlemen directly involved between the farmer and some of the wholesalers.

Does anybody know of any collectives? I suspect that being a leader/representative of a farmers collective (which are good for many reasons), working to cut out the middlemen, would be a very unhealthy occupation.

Bad middlemen....

Are they the one with the invisible hand?

One doesn't necessarily need any magic middlemen, just the outlets themselves artificially inflating prices. Less competition at Point of Sales usually equals more air in product prices.

Time for the Aldi to come to Thailand, everything will be affordable and from a good quality. Thai will all love it!

So you moved to Thailand to shop at Aldi??

Hell no!!

If you guys left your ghettos once in a while and went to the local fresh markets: Plenty of cheap/exotic produce, genuine Thai atmosphere and in general a lot of friendly people!!

That is Thailand!!

HA? half the stuff, especially meat is bought at makro , I am gonna go out on a limb here and say these vendors are not selling their product cheaper than they bought it.

As for exotic, I have never been a big fan of seeing chicken and pork sitting out in the heat for long periods of time with a shirtless Somchai swatting fly's off the meat with a plastic bag.

Time for the Aldi to come to Thailand, everything will be affordable and from a good quality. Thai will all love it!

So you moved to Thailand to shop at Aldi??

Hell no!!

If you guys left your ghettos once in a while and went to the local fresh markets: Plenty of cheap/exotic produce, genuine Thai atmosphere and in general a lot of friendly people!!

That is Thailand!!

Markets are filthy, expensive, unreachable, cheaters and have products full of chemicals.

Also too crowded, stinky, dangerous and they won't show the price so they can extort us.

Many things are cheaper in Europe than in Thailand now. Can somebody explain why this is when tax is only 7% here and in EU approximately 20-25% ?