Sugar millers delay Somkid meeting
Thai Sugar Millers Corporation will postpone its meeting to discuss the country's sugar shortage with Commerce Minister Somkid Jatusripitak.
Sugar manufacturers and cane farmers instead want to meet Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra first. A Commerce Ministry source said Somkid is scheduled to meet with sugar-cane farmers and millers on Monday, to hear their request to float the sugar price. Earlier this month the government approved a Bt3 increase to Bt17.50 per kilo. Some sugar millers said the government could solve the shortage by floating the price because the domestic prices is much lower than the world price of more than Bt30 per kg, which has caused some millers to sell sugar outside the country. Allowing the local price to match the global rate would eliminate smuggling, a source said. Siripol Yodmuangcharoen, director-general of the Internal Trade Department, said that the shortages were caused by consumers hoarding the sweet stuff and that the department would meet with manufacturers that use sugar as a raw material in an effort to stabilise prices. Petchanet Pratruangkrai The Nation
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