Thailand's vegetable prices up after wage hike

SI SA KET, January 5 (TNA) - Prices of vegetables and other consumer products in Thailand are on the rise, in the wake of a new daily minimum wage hike to 300 baht in all areas across the country, effective from January 1, 2013. In Si Sa Ket Province bordering Cambodia in the Thai Northeast, for instance, vegetables prices have sharply increased recently, with those of some kinds of vegetables soaring by double since the New Year festival. In another related development, Krissana Iamwongnathee, chairman of the provincial federation of industries in Ranong Province in the Thai South, told reporters that the 300-baht wage hike has prompted over 30 large-scale plants in the province, manufacturing processed seafood and related industries, to buy machineries to be used in their production, substituting workers, as owners of the local plants foresaw they could save costs in long-term. Krissana acknowledged that several other business operators are also considering to relocate their manufacturing plants to neighbouring countries, where wage costs are now cheaper than Thailand. Ranong is a major producing base of Thailand's processed seafood, with more than 300 plants established, employing more than 80,000 Thais and migrant workers.(TNA)