The government is set to announce its product price structure listing 20 items mostly for daily use, with refined sugar becoming a new addition to the "sensitive" list.
Wiboonlasana Ruamraksa, director-general of the Internal Trade Department, said the new structure will cover the entire price system - upstream, midstream and downstream. Initial target products include pork, poultry, eggs, vegetable oil and fresh vegetables.
The new scheme "will enable consumers to closely monitor and examine product prices and make their own decisions about whether to buy particular products" once provided with the entire price structure, said Ms Wiboonlasana.
She said the new price structure has nothing to do with existing recommended prices, while the information available does not pertain to any particular company but rather to the average price within an entire industry.
The Commerce Ministry decided to upgrade refined sugar to the sensitive list from the previous price watch list, raising the number of products on the sensitive list to 10.
The other items are packed rice, petrol, diesel, natural gas for vehicles, liquefied petroleum gas for vehicles, chemical fertiliser, animal feed, vegetable oil and cooked food.
Officials monitor the prices of products on the sensitive list on a daily basis.
Products on the price watch list receive a twice-weekly price check.