RATCHABURI: Farmers sold shrimps at wholesale prices in Muang district on Friday as the Samut Sakhon Covid-19 outbreak weighed heavily on their business.
Farmers from Bang Phae district arrived with three tonnes of shrimps in front of Darunaratchaburi School on Katatorn Road on Friday. They sold them at farm prices, excluding middlemen from the sales.
The Covid-19 outbreak started last week in a wholesale shrimp market in Samut Sakhon province.
Shrimp farmers in Bang Phae say its effects have been much wider than a swathe of infections. They normally supplied shrimps to Samut Sakhon. Consumers were now reluctant to buy from them because they had been in contact with vendors from Samut Sakhon.
The temporary shrimp market was organised by local fisheries officials.
Drawn by the prospect of cheap prices, a lot of buyers showed up on Friday morning. Access was restricted and people had to sign their names and had their body temperature checked at the entrance.
Among the buyers was Laddawan Temtree, 36. She bought three kilogrammes of giant river shrimps to cook at home.
Ms Laddawan said she was not worried about getting about Covid-19 from shrimps. She would cook them well, and they were raised by local farmers. They did not come from Samut Sakhon, she said.
Prawit La-orbut, fisheries chief of Ratchaburi, said the temporary market was well attended. Farmers sold more than one tonne of shrimps in the morning, with afternoon still ahead of them.
