Thailand's fruit season has concluded with a substantial rise in prices for durian, mangosteen, rambutan, longkong, and mango, attributed to pre-emptive measures laid out in the 2024 fruit management plan. Commerce Minister Pichai Naripthaphan highlighted the Department of Internal Trade's (DIT) strategic efforts in monitoring and regulating fruit production and pricing throughout the season.

 

Pivotal to this year's success was a well-planned framework consisting of six major measures and 25 specific initiatives aimed at bolstering the market. Since taking office, Minister Pichai has fervently worked to enlarge domestic markets, promote export to new regions, and encourage the value-added processing of fruits.

 

Thanks to these initiatives, Thai farmers have profited from higher prices and increased income. As the season wraps up, with Eastern and Northern Thailand nearly completing their harvests and Southern Thailand reporting 98.6% of its durian crop harvested, the outlook for fruit growers appears promising.

 

In anticipation of the next fruit season, Pichai has tasked the DIT with crafting new strategies to enhance production, expand markets, and streamline trade. These measures, once refined, will be discussed with key stakeholders to be effectively assimilated into the 2025 plan.

 

The export front has also seen robust performance: from January to August 2024, Thailand exported 1.4 million tonnes of fresh fruit, valued at 150 billion baht. China remains a top importer, while South Korea, Hong Kong, and Malaysia have significantly increased their uptake of fresh Thai produce.

 

Looking forward, these strategic preparations position Thai fruits favourably in both domestic and international markets, promising continued prosperity for the country's agricultural sector.

 

File photo for reference only

 

-- 2024-10-25

 

 

A surge in prices is hardly a good thing.  When you have an abundance of fruit jacking up the prices is hardly the way to move it before it rots.

I find it strange that eg Makro sell large quantities of imported fruit, largely from China and India, especially grapes.

 

More effort could be put into encouraging Thai farmers to increase production of high value fruits and vegetables to compete with imports, and even open up new export markets. Concentrating on durian alone is not enough.

Jacking up the prices seems to be the only thing they can come up with, instead of becoming more efficient increasing production, reducing costs and passing that saving onto the consumer who would buy more.

a good thing?  only if you are an exporter... farmer gets least as usual...

In contrast, banana prices is  coming down to the usual level after price hike due to short supply; due to loss of many trees by the tropical storm earlier this year.

For the past week, Namwa Banana is getting as cheap as B5-10 in the public market of Chiang Mai（@Muang Mai and Chiang Mai Gate).