The New Year holiday means big business at Naklua's seafood market, which responded as usual by jacking up prices to gouge holiday buyers.
Prices on popular items doubled in some cases while others saw 100-baht increases at the Naklua Market which, before the holiday, had been visited by Pattaya consumer-protection officials whose warnings about price gouging were ignored.
Nonetheless, people crowded in with horrific traffic and queues of shoppers picking up boxed sets for at-home meal preparation.
Vendor Atchariya Kerdkachondee claimed the higher prices were due to supply shortages during the holiday with crab, squid and shellfish in short supply. Banana prawns were either unavailable or sold at high wholesale prices.
She said customers "misunderstood" the reason for higher prices and complained that sellers were taking advantage of them. Atchariya said the wholesale prices were higher, too.
At Lan Po Market, crowds started filing in on Dec. 28 and the market is expected to continue humming until Jan. 2.
