China - China sends Thailand machinery to help boost drinking-water supply

Thailand's Commerce Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong has promised that more supplies of drinking water will come on to the market very soon, as many Thai beverage producers have shifted their production lines to bottled water, while China is sending 120 machines to help the process.

The machines sent by the Chinese government have production capacity of 500 litres per hour. Kittiratt said they were expected to reach Thailand in the next few days and would be set up at the Don Meuang and other shelters and in hospitals. They should be able to supply more than a million people.

Kittiratt said many soft-drink and energy-beverage producers had also switched to drinking-water production to offset the shortage after many bottled-water plants were damaged by heavy floods.

He believes that supplies of drinking water, food and essential consumer goods will be increased by fast-track import measures, while many local companies have accelerated production of essential goods.

Meanwhile, the Thai government has cancelled a plan to set up warehouses in Wang Noi, Ayutthaya, for flood-relief supplies, as water levels have risen too high in the area. The government had planned to stock the warehouses with 600 million baht (US$19 million) worth of food and consumer goods, enough to supply people in Ayutthaya for a month.

Kittiratt said the government also planned to ask tollway operators to waive fees for consumer-goods transport as other roadways have been flooded.

He added that the government was still confident about using Don Meuang Airport warehouses for stocking goods. However, it will also look for other safe areas with capacity of up to 10,000 square metres to store goods for flood-relief distribution.

Meanwhile, Thai egg producers have objected to the government's plan to import eggs from neighbouring countries, fearing disease may result.

Manoch Chutubtim, president of the Egg Producers Association, said other countries had different sanitary standards than Thailand. The Kingdom is still producing 23 million to 24 million eggs per day, lower by 1 million per day because of the flooding.

Egg prices have gone up, but this is because of transport difficulties. Traders have marked up the retail price of eggs by 10-20 satang because of these logistics problems.

Manoch said the government should help producers and traders lower their distribution costs if it is concerned that egg prices are too high. It should also stringently control hoarding and punish traders who push prices higher than is appropriate. The price of No 0 eggs, the largest size, should be no higher than Bt4 each.

The Internal Trade Department says retail egg prices should be 3.30 baht to 3.90 baht each depending on size.

Petchanet Pratruangkrai in Bangkok/The Nation | ANN

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