Thai government asked to stop low shrimp prices

SONGKHLA, May 8 (TNA) - Shrimp growers from eight southern Thai provinces rallied on Tinsulanonda Bridge in Muang district to demand the government to stop the low prices of pacific white shrimps, vowing to prolong the demonstration unless the government solves their problem. The shrimp farmers demanded that the Thai government start a mortgage scheme on May 15 to raise the shrimp prices on the domestic market. Kanchit Hemarak, head of a network of shrimp growers in the eight southern Thai provinces, said that the shrimp farmers want the government to set the shrimp mortgage price at 130-180 baht per kilogram depending on shrimp sizes, threatening that they would block the Tinsulanonda Bridge and take shrimps to the residence of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra in Bangkok unless her government heeded their demand. Meanwhile, the prices of other farm products on the domestic market have risen, including those of meat and vegetables. In Sakon Nakhon province, for instance, the price of kale has increased from 20 to 40 baht per bunch and that of pork from 105-110 to 130 baht per kilogram. Local vendors claimed that goods prices have gone up by more than 100 per cent and will likely increase further in the lead-up to the forthcoming new school term, urging the government to control the rising goods prices to ease consumers' hardships. (TNA)