The cabinet on Monday greenlighted a proposal to include chickens and chicken meat on the state price control list and tougher measures for chicken raisers, slaughterhouses and feed meal factories.
Deputy government spokeswoman Rachada Dhnadirek said the inclusion of chickens and chicken meat, which are considered significant protein for the overall consumers, on the state price control list is aimed to alleviate people's hardship from soaring food prices.
The price control list mainly covers essential items for daily use such as food, consumer products, agricultural products (fertilisers, pesticides, animal feed, tractors and rice harvesters), construction materials, paper, petroleum and medicines.
Listed foods include garlic, rice paddy, milled rice, corn, eggs, cassava, wheat flour, powdered/fresh milk, sugar, vegetable/animal oil and pork, while listed services include delivery for online businesses, agriculture-related services, medical services and other healthcare services, and payment services at service points.
There are currently 52 items on the state price control list including chickens and chicken meat, 47 of which are products and five services.
To help with rising living costs, the cabinet last Tuesday allocated 1.48 billion baht from the central budget as proposed by the Commerce Ministry to fund relief measures for consumers for three months.
According to Ms Rachada, the cabinet on Monday also approved management measures for chicken raisers with more than 100,000 birds and chicken slaughterhouses with a capacity of more than 4,000 chickens per day to report the quantity, stocks and sales costs every month.
In addition, the cabinet approved tighter measures on all 55 domestic feed meal factories, demanding they report the sales costs, production volume and stocks as well as gain prior approval from the Internal Trade Department before they raise the prices of their products.
On Monday, the cabinet also approved extending price controls for another year on four products: face masks; synthetic fibres used in face mask production; products using alcohol as ingredients for hygiene; and waste paper and recycled paper.
Ms Rachada said with the rise in prices of many goods, the government has implemented several measures to help maintain the prices.
The Commerce Ministry has also asked for cooperation from producers and entrepreneurs and food-related associations to maintain the prices of several products not only chicken but also seasoning sauces, instant noodles, and soft drinks.
In a related development, according to Ms Rachada, the Swine Raisers Association of Thailand has agreed to maintain the ex-farm prices of live pigs at 110 baht per kilogramme until the end of the Chinese New Year festival.
