Thai commerce minister says exports are on the rise, farmers threaten self harm

[webfact]

 

By Erich Parpart

 

Thailand’s commerce minister said the government is doing a good job of improving the export of fresh products like vegetables and fruits, but farmers say they are on the verge of suicide.

 

“We solved the problem well and it resulted in an increase of exports, even with Covid,” said Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Commerce, Jurin Laksanawisit, during a parliament session on Thursday.

 

Jurin responded to questions from Yanthicha Buapeun, Move Forward MP for Chanthaburi, on problems with exports. 

 

Full story: https://www.thaienquirer.com/35910/thai-commerce-minister-says-exports-are-on-the-rise-farmers-threaten-self-harm/

 

-- © Copyright Thai Enquirer 2021-12-17

 

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[RichardColeman]

Sunchai Puranachaikere, president of Thai Fresh Fruit Traders and Exporters Association, told Thai Enquirer last week that the current exports to China over the past two months have been the worst in 20 years due to trade restrictions. 

 

At the same time, China is sending goods to Thailand via the recently completed China-Laos high speed railway, which has flooded Thai fresh markets with Chinese products.

 

 

That's reality of dealing with China I'm afraid. 

[tomazbodner]

3 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

Sunchai Puranachaikere, president of Thai Fresh Fruit Traders and Exporters Association, told Thai Enquirer last week that the current exports to China over the past two months have been the worst in 20 years due to trade restrictions. 

 

At the same time, China is sending goods to Thailand via the recently completed China-Laos high speed railway, which has flooded Thai fresh markets with Chinese products.

 

 

That's reality of dealing with China I'm afraid. 

This is down to consumer behaviour. As long as customers buy only based on price, no matter the quality, this will continue. Cheapest products, especially when it comes to food, do tend to become most expensive ones in the long run, though.

[peter zwart]

11 minutes ago, tomazbodner said:

This is down to consumer behaviour. As long as customers buy only based on price, no matter the quality, this will continue. Cheapest products, especially when it comes to food, do tend to become most expensive ones in the long run, though.

But what if the people dont have the money to buy more expensive food?

 

[seajae]

"At the same time, China is sending goods to Thailand via the recently completed China-Laos high speed railway, which has flooded Thai fresh markets with Chinese products."

So why are the thai not sending theirs back to china the same way and why are the thais not flooding the local markets to stop china. Would be great if the govt actually stepped in and took china to task but that will never happen, too busy bending over for them

[hotchilli]

The Chinese cheap vegetables are going to the wholesalers, they in turn make a profit by selling to Thai street traders who in turn make a profit.

Thais are killing the farmers not the Chinese.

[Cake Monster]

2 hours ago, seajae said:

"At the same time, China is sending goods to Thailand via the recently completed China-Laos high speed railway, which has flooded Thai fresh markets with Chinese products."

So why are the thai not sending theirs back to china the same way and why are the thais not flooding the local markets to stop china. Would be great if the govt actually stepped in and took china to task but that will never happen, too busy bending over for them

Everybody is banging on about the Chinese flooding the Markets with fresh, and cheaper product than be locally grown in Thailand.

So why exactly are the prices for these fresh veggies going through the roof.

There is something seriously wrong with a system that allows Veggies to be as expensive as Meat per Kg.

Oh ! I forgot, its high season.

Tourists come to Thailand, they have money, and I want as much of it as possible without a Jail Sentence.

 

[Sydebolle]

Well, what I see when shopping for fresh vegetables and fruit - is a completely different picture.

Hydroponic (local) leafy stuff comes at +/- 180 Baht/kg, a Baht buster are bell peppers at 150 Baht/kg while local long beans go for 15 Baht. Bananas cost in supermarket +/- 90 Baht/kg while along the highway nicer bananas are 35 Baht/kg or 100 Baht/3 kgs. 

But, irrespective of this, someone has to explain to me, why hydroponics or bell peppers are sold at 150 - 180 Baht/kg while chicken parts (drum sticks, breasts, thighs) come at anything between 52 - 65 Baht/kg. My limited knowledge of the industry would advocate considerably higher production costs of a kilogramme of chicken. But yeah, same applies to seasonal shortages of tomatoes (75 Baht/kg)  in a country, where the sun shines 300 days a year ...........