Trang factory sees hot sales of its charcoal stoves as cooking gas prices rise
Orders for charcoal stoves from a large factory in Trang province have risen sharply as fuel and cooking gas prices continued to rise.
Even though the Oil Fuel Fund Office has subsidised the diesel price to mitigate the impact on citizens, rising fuel costs have caused the price of many consumer products to increase, including cooking gas.
Kuan Thani charcoal stove factory owner Sirinya Luandee, 37, said the demand for charcoal stoves has risen sharply since the middle of April and it is likely to keep increasing.
She said the factory has increased its production capacity to 4,000 stoves per month from between 2,000 and 3,000.
However, she claimed that the factory cannot increase its production capacity further due to the limitation in the number of workers and production methods.
“The factory received almost 20,000 orders for charcoal stoves, forcing it to accelerate production to meet demand,” she said.
“Most customers are retailers who bought them for sale in Songkhla, Krabi, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Surat Thani and Phuket.”
Even though clay for producing stoves can be found locally, she said the factory had to raise the stove price to between THB100 and THB300 due to price increases of other materials, as well as transportation costs.
Sirinya expected charcoal stoves to become best sellers for up to 10 years amid trends in the higher cost of living and energy conservation.
