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Phuket police prepare to head for a giant rubber protest today

Phuket Police Sent to Giant Rubber Protest Over Falling Prices

Tuesday, August 27, 2013
PHUKET: A contingent of 170 police from Phuket left today as rubber planters blocked a train line and threatened to halt traffic on Thailand's highways in a protest about prices.

The Phuket police were on their way to Nakhon Si Thammarat, where as many as 15,000 planters, workers and their families were reported to have surrounded the train from Bangkok.

National action is being threatened in a bid to force the government to restart a stockpiling scheme to buy rubber at above-market prices.

Following a disastrous attempt to hoard and control the price of rice, the government is having none of it.

Deputy Prime Minister Pracha Promnok - fresh from a weekend visit to Phuket to deal with security and safety of tourists - told the rubber platers today: ''You're on your own. We won't interfere in the rubber market.''

The government says it will not resume the intervention program, which purchased the rubber sheet at 120 baht per kilo, compared with the present market price of about 72 baht.

Thousands of farmers blocked traffic in the Chauat district in Nakhon Si Thammarat, about 800km south of Bangkok.

Other police were being drafted from around Thailand to prevent disorder and to keep the nation's highways open. The Phuket contingent is expected to return or to be replaced by others within three days.

Comments

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Maybe someone should actually explain how the "free market" works and why prices fluctuate.

I am sure if they had more education they can then see how unfair the market works, and that every one of us is powerless to control the price of things.

Posted by Tbs on August 27, 2013 11:38

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Re-Tbs posting on rubber tappers.
If they had better education and financially more secure,had the choice of having a social evening drink/
spending quality time with his family OR tapping rubber in the rain at 1 AM,to be sold to the middlemen at30/35 baht/kilo not the market price of 72
Which one do think he would choose???

Posted by Anonymous on August 27, 2013 13:25

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Well if the government doesn't mind subsidising the rice farmers in the north (the government's power base) it's understandable that other primary producers would like the same deal.

Posted by cammo on August 27, 2013 13:42

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Not blaming PW but now many crooks know there are fewer Police on Phuket for the next few days.

Posted by Fiesty Farang on August 27, 2013 14:08

Editor Comment:

Only the expat ones who read this article.

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So much for the extra 700 police promised for Phuket from Surat Thani - the gateway to NST.

Posted by Evilbaz on August 27, 2013 14:56

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I am sure this is in the Thai press also.

Posted by Fiesty Farang on August 27, 2013 15:05

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The Thai government offered rice farmers a good price and stockpiled the rice hoping to take advantage of it's no 1 position at the time in rice exports. The problem is that with modern trading systems it only takes minutes to change suppliers. The result India is now no 1 with Vietnam etc taking up the slack and more the price fell massively and the Thai government has lost billions of US Dollars not Thai Baht. This is the reason they don't want to risk the same price move in rubber. Governments should stick to politics not commodity price manipulation of basic food eaten in many cases by poor people who would have had to pay more.

Posted by Fiesty Farang on August 27, 2013 15:44

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Rice gets subsidized, rubber not...any geopolitical bias there...??????

Posted by ian on August 28, 2013 08:30


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