Sompope Gultawatvichai, senior vice president for food-product sales, said the company would wait for an agreement from all vendors before reopening the stall as a wholesale business. The firm has agreed to help retailers improve their service quality and train them to sell clean products.

The company said stalls it had opened in other markets in Bangkok and nearby provinces were supporting retailers but it would try to place outlets outside the markets.

Chicken-retailers at Bang Kapi protested against CPF's expansion to the market because they feared losing business. Sompope claimed the company had no intention of destroying retailers' livelihoods and wanted to support them by offering them new products.

"If we reopen the stall, we will not be selling chicken direct to consumers for sure," he said.

The Internal Trade Department yesterday brokered a compromise between CPF and vendors.

Although CPF said it had only set up the stall as a wholesale supplier to small retailers in the market, vendors claimed the firm had prevented them from buying CPF products from other sources and had forced them to buy chicken from the stall at a higher price. One retailer said CPF had increased the price of its chicken by Bt2 a kilogram after opening the stall.

Petchanet Pratruangkrai

The Nation