the prices go up every week

[TheFishman1]

Costa do u comment on ever post on TV get a life

[senor123]

I don't live in Thailand but my missus does and she thinks that the cost of essentials, like food, is starting to get out of control. She told me that, in the local market, the food vendors are suffering because people cannot afford the increases and there are less customers.

When she came to Australia in February this year she had to buy some more blood pressure tablets as she left hers at home. They were half the price she paid in Thailand. She also took some authentic Ray Bans back to Thailand for a few friends, once again about half the price you pay in Thailand. In fact, she took a suitcase full of chocolates, pop-corn, beauty products and wine because it was cheaper.

It would seem that there could be some credence given to the comment that Thailand is not all that cheap these days.

[Dogbarker]

Big eggs are now 50 Baht for ten . Not long ago they were less than 35 Baht . North Thailand

Buy smaller eggs and use two ! ( size 2 are quite big - they are US Large size - but not the biggest before you say it - they were 30 for 79 baht yesterday at Big C .... offer !!!!

[Dogbarker]

Geez...Costas is correct....pork tendorloin 94 b a kilo....at my local tesco......food here is cheap......<deleted>

I got to check that out as I usually pay 130-160 bt.

and I am just happy ( not ) waiting until I go back for UK summer where I note today it is about 500 baht a kg ( depending on who you exchange rate with)

£10 a kilo :

http://www.tesco.com/groceries/product/details/?id=263745286

[shaurene]

We buy most of our stuff from local markets. Large eggs 34btx10. Cauliflowers 10-20bt. Large corn cobs cooked 2 x20bt huge bunches spring on long 10-15bt. Chicken fillets 75bt kl. Try also going to Macro, they have gone up since the Thai company bought the Macro Thailand division out. Tesco offten has pork specials.

[Happy Grumpy]

I go shopping twice a week usually.

Each time is about 2k baht.

Cheap really. Don't bother looking at the prices, you see some people scouring their receipt, what a crappy way to live.

[Happy Grumpy]

People will be eating rotten fish soon, it's getting so bad.

they always done it...it's called Pla Rah...

Well done, you understood the joke. Did you really need to spell it out?

[Suradit69]

Sometimes the prices remain the same but the size of the can or bottle or package or whatever shrinks. They assume you won't notice ... and this applies to foreign brands as well, like Hershey, Pepsi and Oishi.

Food packet racket: The sizes are shrinking... but the price stays the same

• Companies involved claim that the changes are driven by increases in the cost of raw materials, transport and staff
• You know the feeling, you buy the same items each week at the supermarket, but they don’t seem to last as long as they used to.

  Well, there’s a very good reason – crafty manufacturers are making their packets smaller.

  Despite shrinking thousands of items, shops are keeping the price the same, meaning hard-pressed shoppers are getting less for their money.

[SOUTHERNSTAR]

Big eggs are now 50 Baht for ten . Not long ago they were less than 35 Baht . North Thailand

We buy extra large eggs for B 95 to B 105 per 30 egg tray at Makro.

Pork mince was B 125/kg about 3 months ago now its down to B 100/kg - Makro. Chicken breast (deboned) B 75/kg a while back it was over B 90/kg.

Milk are the same, bread are the same, local beer are the same (excluding the recent increase in tax on beer), fruit and veg are the same,

What I am seeing is that there are deflation in the air not inflation, but if you buy at the wrong places you get ripped off.

[Suradit69]

I go shopping twice a week usually.

Each time is about 2k baht.

Cheap really. Don't bother looking at the prices, you see some people scouring their receipt, what a crappy way to live.

Quite agree. There's nothing you can do about it and getting your knickers in a knot accomplishes nothing, but for those who are here on a fixed income and/or have watched their exchange rate plummet, it's sometimes difficult to blithely ignore.

I haven't yet reached that point, but if it continues like this I could see it becoming a worry in a few years. For most things I need I don't even bother checking the price but sometimes the final toll at the checkout is a bit of a shock.

Baht 2,000 twice a week only amounts to about Baht 16,000 a month. Can't remember how long it's been since I could get by on that little.

[elgordo38]

Can't help it........have to give one of my brilliant advices once more.

OP, start eating and drinking less.

It will be good for your health and also it will not hurt your pocket.

That's OK.......the advice was free of charge......just for you.

I agree I cut back from 3 beers a day to one on Saturday and Sunday.

[elgordo38]

Inflation...

This is what I have been told by respective maids, nannies, caretakers,... or whatever you can call them, for the last 50 years.

But should I care as soon my fridges have been always full since I was born?!?

I have another word for it Capitalism. Get as much as you can from the ordinary people to boost your profits.

and the poor want a 60 baht bump in the daily minimum wage how dare they? Please do not stand in the way of the rich capitalists. I think they have figured out a way to take their money with them.

[elgordo38]

I go shopping twice a week usually.

Each time is about 2k baht.

Cheap really. Don't bother looking at the prices, you see some people scouring their receipt, what a crappy way to live.

Thanks Daddy Warbucks. Maybe they should clone you. You would be a businessman's dream.

[Cypress Hill]

I go shopping twice a week usually.

Each time is about 2k baht.

Cheap really. Don't bother looking at the prices, you see some people scouring their receipt, what a crappy way to live.

Thanks Daddy Warbucks. Maybe they should clone you. You would be a businessman's dream.

Never takes long for people to start the pissing-up-the-wall contest based on how much they spend shopping each week.

I remember a couple of threads like this before the Great Recession of '08.

A couple of short years later with Western currencies in the toilet against the baht, the same big swinging dicks were crying into their last bowl of noodles before boarding the big bird home.

[BudRight]

I go shopping twice a week usually.

Each time is about 2k baht.

Cheap really. Don't bother looking at the prices, you see some people scouring their receipt, what a crappy way to live.

One should scour prices before purchase, not after, so in that sense I agree.

[laobali]

Can't help it........have to give one of my brilliant advices once more.

OP, start eating and drinking less.

It will be good for your health and also it will not hurt your pocket.

That's OK.......the advice was free of charge......just for you.

Costas, what would we do without you and your magic advice?

Have less to laugh about. He is a master of illusion self-delusion.

[Paul944]

Soon Thai will move to Europe because the food is cheaper here, specially the lemons and eggs.

[losworld]

Inflation...

This is what I have been told by respective maids, nannies, caretakers,... or whatever you can call them, for the last 50 years.

But should I care as soon my fridges have been always full since I was born?!?

Yeah and its a lot of bullshit too. Inflation is how banks make money it simply takes more money to pay back what is borrowed. A result of allowing the Federal Reseve, a private bank, the right to the money that they lend to the govt. A huge scam.

Anyone who thinks that the current ridiculous inflation is the result of pent up demand is wrong. Its the result of all the money printing to pay off the govt debts.

I don't know how Thai families can afford it. There could be civil unrest in many countries when they can't feed their families.

Edited April 5, 2015 by losworld

[MaeJoMTB]

Big eggs are now 50 Baht for ten . Not long ago they were less than 35 Baht . North Thailand

80bht for 30 in CM .......... change your supplier.

Edited April 5, 2015 by MaeJoMTB

[chiang mai]

For expats in Thailand, the answer is not difficult to find:

If in the North, cut down on the use of Rimping Markets and similar, try the local markets, most are very good with high quality products and at much lower prices.

[sanuk48]

Shop at local markets Avoid Big C etc Large eggs are 87 baht for 30 at wholesalers (they're everywhere) Buy Archa beer by the carton it's much cheaper than Leo and tastes better. My wife and I can easily live a "No frills" life on 300 baht/day, less if I gave up beer. But that won't happen.

[Maejoe]

Guys. you have overlooked the real reason here.

Ever since the EU imposed sanctions on Russia due to the crisis in Ukraine, EU exports of pork and other farm products to Russia have been banned.

Russia is now hoovering up just as much fresh pork as it can from Thailand and other non-aligned countries They are reported to have purchased over 50,000 tonnes of fresh pork from Thailand in March.

Unfortunately Russia is not buying rice.

My guess is that the price of pork will continue to rise strongly in the coming months - we had better get used to chewing carabao instead !!!

[sirineou]

Inflation...

This is what I have been told by respective maids, nannies, caretakers,... or whatever you can call them, for the last 50 years.

But should I care as soon my fridges have been always full since I was born?!?

Yeah and its a lot of bullshit too. Inflation is how banks make money it simply takes more money to pay back what is borrowed. A result of allowing the Federal Reseve, a private bank, the right to the money that they lend to the govt. A huge scam.

Anyone who thinks that the current ridiculous inflation is the result of pent up demand is wrong. Its the result of all the money printing to pay off the govt debts.

I don't know how Thai families can afford it. There could be civil unrest in many countries when they can't feed their families.

actually inflation is how banks loose money,

economics 101.... sorry if it sounds didactic, and the following explanation simplistic

if you lend to someone $30,000 for thirty years to buy a house and 30 years later they gave you back that $30,000 but now you cant even buy a small car with it, would you feel that inflation helped you make money?

Aside from the profit aspect, that's an other reason why banks charge interest, as a hedge against inflation.

in a high inflationary environment banks need to raise the interest rate they charge to keep pace with inflation and maintain a profit margin

Inflation is a natural economic occurrence, and has many complicated components but basically is a result of the interaction between the cost of the means of production and the price of product ,

it is a push /pull interaction,

as prices go up people demand higher wages, and cost of raw material and other means of production go up, so producers have to charge a higher price for their product, so people need to make more money to afford product raising the cost of means of production etc etc etc

The central bank raises or lowers rates to adjust the cost of money which is a big part of the means of production but also stimulate demand for product, , in this explanation I am not even touching on how inters increases the money supply, which would open an other can of worms.

A low Inflation rate or stagflation is also not desired because it indicates low demand and signals a slow down in economic activity

So a natural rate of inflation between 1.75% and 2% is desired and is usually the target inflation rate of most countries

The core inflation rate in Thailand is now 1,6% The national bank of Thailand predicts that inflation will average at 2.1% in 2015

So to simply say that banks make money from inflation, or as someone else said the Bangkok elite are buying Baht to protect the value of their money is simply not correct, It is a complicated system and any simple answers have no choice but to be wrong. Remember Thailand is a net exporter a high BAHT is detrimental to exports. and if the "elite" actively maintained a High Baht they would be shooting themselves on the foot.

Any way, again sorry for the simple explanation , volumes can be written on the subject, but who wants to read them

as I said simple explanations to a complex subject have no choice but to be wrong, and this can also apply to my simple explanation,

[Anthony5]

If you don't want to overpay, avoid Big C at all costs.

I normally shop at Big C and Foodland, but never eat pork, and today I was in for a shock.

Since I noticed the discussion about the pork price in this thread, I paid special attention when I went to Big C today.

At Big C the pork loin was 205 Bht/kg and they had another quality which was pre-packed 500gr, at 298 bht/kg. Even at Foodland it was only 175 bht/kg, and the quality is probably not C-grade. I never buy meat or fresh product at Big C by the way for that very reason.

I bought Vanish washing powder at Big C today at 257 bht/450gr only to find a few minutes later that the same Vanish was 165 bht at Foodland, and that was no promotion price That is a 50% premium at Big C.

Hygiene Zuper was 159 Bht at Big C, and 132 Bht at Foodland with additional buy 1 get one free.

Other washing powders and cleaning products, you now daily products the Thai also use, were about 15 to 30% more expensive at Big C compared to Homepro next door and Foodland.

I think I will give Big C a wide berth in the future

[jaywalker]

Thank the US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank & the Bank of Japan, which are 3 of the world's largest economies for "Quantitative Easing" (printing/creating trillions of $$, Euros & Yen out of thin air).

The more you have of something like paper money, the less it's worth = inflation.

[No Apologist]

Can't help it........have to give one of my brilliant advices once more.

OP, start eating and drinking less.

It will be good for your health and also it will not hurt your pocket.

That's OK.......the advice was free of charge......just for you.

Outside of your distraction, prices go up in Thailand when business is bad. That's the tradition. Business is bad largely because of the things you support so vocally each day.

[stoli]

I agree entirely with the OP. I am seeing many prices in the last week alone were up 10% to 20%, on food items that I purchase weekly. This is huge in a country that is not in an inflationary economy. It will certainly cause inflation though.

[stoli]

Big eggs are now 50 Baht for ten . Not long ago they were less than 35 Baht . North Thailand

You gotta love North Thailand. At Villa Market today in Pattaya, 10 lg. eggs were 91 baht.

[stoli]

Inflation...

This is what I have been told by respective maids, nannies, caretakers,... or whatever you can call them, for the last 50 years.

But should I care as soon my fridges have been always full since I was born?!?

Yeah and its a lot of bullshit too. Inflation is how banks make money it simply takes more money to pay back what is borrowed. A result of allowing the Federal Reseve, a private bank, the right to the money that they lend to the govt. A huge scam.

Anyone who thinks that the current ridiculous inflation is the result of pent up demand is wrong. Its the result of all the money printing to pay off the govt debts.

I don't know how Thai families can afford it. There could be civil unrest in many countries when they can't feed their families.

Why do I keep hearing from the English that the Federal Reserve is a "Private Bank"? Don't you folks ever check out what you say first to see if it is true? What crap. It is not dictated to by politicians, but it is certainly part of the US Government. Its governing body is all appointed by, but does not answer to, the President of the United States. Check your facts and educate yourself. Who started this, Piers Morgan? The man that knows nothing?

[Anthony5]

Inflation...

This is what I have been told by respective maids, nannies, caretakers,... or whatever you can call them, for the last 50 years.

But should I care as soon my fridges have been always full since I was born?!?

Yeah and its a lot of bullshit too. Inflation is how banks make money it simply takes more money to pay back what is borrowed. A result of allowing the Federal Reseve, a private bank, the right to the money that they lend to the govt. A huge scam.

Anyone who thinks that the current ridiculous inflation is the result of pent up demand is wrong. Its the result of all the money printing to pay off the govt debts.

I don't know how Thai families can afford it. There could be civil unrest in many countries when they can't feed their families.

Why do I keep hearing from the English that the Federal Reserve is a "Private Bank"? Don't you folks ever check out what you say first to see if it is true? What crap. It is not dictated to by politicians, but it is certainly part of the US Government. Its governing body is all appointed by, but does not answer to, the President of the United States. Check your facts and educate yourself. Who started this, Piers Morgan? The man that knows nothing?

You are wrong.

http://www.factcheck.org/2008/03/federal-reserve-bank-ownership/

Q: Who owns the Federal Reserve Bank?

A: There are actually 12 different Federal Reserve Banks around the country, and they are owned by big private banks. But the banks don’t necessarily run the show. Nationally, the Federal Reserve System is led by a Board of Governors whose seven members are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate.

FULL ANSWER

The stockholders in the 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks are the privately owned banks that fall under the Federal Reserve System. These include all national banks (chartered by the federal government) and those state-chartered banks that wish to join and meet certain requirements. About 38 percent of the nation’s more than 8,000 banks are members of the system, and thus own the Fed banks.