Handicraft bargains at Phuket OTOP fair

PHUKET CITY: Carved wooden ornaments, stylish cloth bags and Lanna-style garments are just some of the hundreds of hand-made products from northern Thailand currently on sale at an OTOP market fair at Saphan Hin until tomorrow.

Over 100 booths are selling the handicrafts from 10am to 9pm at the fair dubbed ‘OTOP: From Lanna to Andaman Sea’.

There’s also plenty to eat and drink at the fair, especially seafood, including Phuket specialties such as salty grilled fish. Beer Chang is also sponsoring the event.

In the evenings there are Lanna cultural performances and other staged entertainment.

In a related story, Naparas La-Ongpetch, who chairs the Phuket OTOP network, told the state-run Andaman News that she is working with the Provincial Community Development Office to survey retail outlets interested in selling locally-produced OTOP goods.

She has called a meeting with 147 retail operators, inviting them to join in the program.

Goods on sale at the ‘OTOP: From Lanna to Andaman Sea’ fair should generate about 300,000 baht in revenue, she said.

— Hasan Che-aware