Manufacturers assure no shortage of bottled drinking water

BANGKOK, March 10 (TNA) - Major producers of bottled drinking water in Thailand have assured that there will be no drinking water shortage on the domestic market. Amid public concerns over, probably, a shortage of drinking water in Thailand due to impacts from this year's drought, representatives of 19 bottled drinking water producers, including those from Boon Rawd Brewery, Nestle, Thai Pure Drinks, Serm Suk and Thai Beverage, made the assurance during their talks with officials of the Ministry of Commerce’s Department of Internal Trade in Bangkok on March 9 to discuss the general situation of bottled drinking water in the country. Department of Internal Trade Director-General Wiboonluck Ruamrak later told journalists that the manufacturers confirmed there will be sufficient drinking water because most of them have resoted to artesian wells for the production of their drinking water for about a decade. Wiboonluck said the producers also insisted that they have not changed their bottled water prices, as their production costs have remained intact. According to the senior official, the producers also promised to increase their production by 10–20 per cent to cope with rising consumer demand. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Commerce has, since the beginning of this month, added bottled drinking water under its "Sensitive List", in which there are more than 200 necessity products whose prices and volumes are to be monitored by the ministry on a daily basis in order to protect consumers. (TNA)