We are in May, which should be high season, but there is insufficient supply of raw materials. Many packers can only produce 3 days a week, and many can take no more orders. Most will close in June for vacation.
Supply has gone down from 10,000 tons/day to the industry to less than 4000 tons/day.
The present price of raw material is between 5 and 5.50 Baht/Kg. Please note that the price of almost all products have just gone up, because packers are also facing the Baht exchange rate problem, which is fluctuating around 28.60-28.80/US$.
This external problem also has a direct effect on the price rise, compared to those of the first quarter of 2013. We also knew that some suppliers have started to delay shipments due to lack of raw materials.
This situation will continue until the end of this harvest, in August /September, 2013. For the next crop, let’s wait and see how the weather behaves and we’ll keep you posted.