The authorities in Thailand warned traders against implementing price increase as the residents buy black garments while mourning on the King’s death.
The government declared a year of mourning and asked everyone to wear black or white, and to cancel any outdoor festivities, for the first 30 days, following the death of King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
The 88-year-old king died on Thursday after 70 years on the throne, putting the country into grief.
Due to the influx of buyers who are purchasing black clothes, Thai authorities warned traders not to take advantage of shoppers.
The Thai government have also sent out teams of inspectors to scour markets for price gougers, in order to make sure prices of shirts will remain.
“Regarding black shirts which have become more expensive, the commerce ministry has sent teams to inspect white and black clothing vendors to make sure the shirts are not being sold at prices that are too expensive,” Major General Sansern Kaewkamnerd, a spokesman for the prime minister’s office, told reporters on Saturday.
Since the king died on Thursday, most people in Bangkok have been wearing black and shoppers have been flooding to markets to get new clothes.
Commercial traders said business was brisk but they denied pushing up prices.
In Thailand, black is the color of mourning but white, a color that symbolizes purity, is also sometimes worn. White is also worn by ethnic Chinese people at funerals.
On Friday afternoon, the King’s remains was brought to the Grand Palace where crowds of mourners lined up pavements along the route of a royal motorcade that bear the king’s body from the hospital.
Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn is expected to be the new king, but he does not command the same adoration that his father earned in the country over a lifetime on the throne.
