Prices of roses soar by 600% for Thailand's Valentine's Day

BANGKOK, February 13 (TNA) - Like previous years, people in Thailand, especially youths, are celebrating St. Valentine's Day on February 14, driving the prices of roses by as high as 600 per cent. Ampon Wongsiri, Secretary-General of the Office of the Consumer Protection Board (OCPB), acknowledged on Thursday a latest survey at Pak Klong Talad, Thailand's largest wholesale flower market in Bangkok, found that the prices of roses were much higher than usual, with grade A roses, 25 in each bouquet, were hiked to 600 baht per bouquet, from normally 50-100 baht, soaring by 600 per cent, compared with by 300 per cent last year. According to the OCPB chief, if the roses were put into a variety of St. Valentine's Day designs, their prices were even hiked to 100-120 baht per unit, considered a profiteering. The OCPB chief said his office is, thus, sending a report to the Ministry of Commerce's Department of Internal Trade to implement a measure to control the rose prices. Rose vendors, meanwhile, cited reduced supply of locally-grown roses, caused by longer than usual winter this year, as the reason for the unusual price hike of roses.(TNA)