Thai Food Hit By Garlic Crisis

[pampal]

I like chinese garlic

And you certainly like too the heavy metals and the chemicals provided by the chinese garlic.

As a good french, I can only hate the chinese garlic, that has no taste. We have real one, strong and spicy, in the south of France, where garlic is broadly used in cocking.

Therefore I support the "garlic campaign" in Thailand. We need to fight back !

I like Heavy Metal, especially Metallica. 

Rock ON

btw  What is a good French?

from the garlic you mentioned, it's more like smelly French

[jrbkk64]

I would not be too sure about the quality of the local raw material. Rules and regulations are very flexible when it comes to the raw material on the local market. Thailand is a major agricultural produce exporter and most if not all the best (meaning grown/bred in a controlled environment) raw material is exported. Trust me I know. We battle daily with our suppliers and buy 10's of millions THB per month!! Especially local seafood, tangerines/oranges, any meats bought at fresh markets in the neighbourhood etc are of suspicious quality most of the time!! Greed being the main driver of this.

[jrbkk64]

I would not be too sure about the quality of the local raw material. Rules and regulations are very flexible when it comes to the raw material on the local market. Thailand is a major agricultural produce exporter and most if not all the best (meaning grown/bred in a controlled environment) raw material is exported. Trust me I know. We battle daily with our suppliers and buy 10's of millions THB per month!! Especially local seafood, tangerines/oranges, any meats bought at fresh markets in the neighbourhood etc are of suspicious quality most of the time!! Greed being the main driver of this.

By the way: I live and work in Thailand and obviously do eat the local food, although I am not a big fan mostly because many (thai) restaurants use very poor/old raw material.

[john b good]

Jeeeesus. First it was the inflation of the baht. Then it was the return of Thaksin. And now the garlic is a goner. Beam me up Scotty. I'm outta here.

'

economy, business or first class ???

[Martin]

As 'chownah' said, in post #24,:

"Us poor rural villagers always have the best garlic, and peppers, and eggplant, and lettuce, and corn, and squash, and tomatoes, and ...and...and...and...

Local organic produce is best!!!! Words to live by."

My wife and I also have our own ricefields, and, from our garden, lemon grass, chillies, onions, tomatoes, bananas, mangos, coconuts, tamarinds, papaya, and three fruits that seem to have only unpronounceable-by-me Thai names.

'Aunty' across the soi has a market garden behind her house and sells us salad, flowers, and some more things to put in curries.

I'd be poor old man, pretty skint, just getting through Third Age, in an England city; but it is a rich Second Youth for me in this Isaan village.

Lucky are we who have ended up settled in Ban Nork.

[astral]

Surely authentic Thai food contains local garlic??

I cannot see the people of the countryside rushing to the supermarket to by imported cloves.

[Shah Jahan]

Up here in the North...

in 2006 a few folks made a killing by buying fresh garlic for 10-15bht a kilo (not sure of exact numbers)

and selling it dried later in the year for 40 bht plus a kilo

what then happened in 2007 is all the rest of the villagers saw this and thought they could rinse and repeat (not that easy)

and bought up fresh garlic for 15-20bht a kilo

(also alot more people planted)

however when the time came to sell, the price of garlic plummeted and most of them could barely get 7-8bht a kilo

economics is not that simple for the villagers.

[Maizefarmer]

"Garlic from Cambodia, Laos, Burma and some parts of China is similar in size to Thailand, so it's difficult for consumers to tell the difference. The point is, imported garlic is a lot cheaper than local garlic," she said.

How is this?

As far as I know thai farm workers aren't overpaid yet. So, where this lots of extra cost coming from then?

How is it possible - well, its a problem not confined to garlic, it affects the Thai dairy and rice industries as well - for much the same reasons: the ability of other countries to produce far more competively than the average Thai farmer.

The net yields for garlic per rai or acre eqivilant in China is much higher than it is in Thailand. Same thing for rice production.

How is it Australian dairy farmers can milk a cow, process the milk (into powder or UHT liquid), then package it, then transport to Thailand, then wholesale it, then retail it - and do all this for less than it costs us in Thailand to milk a cow and deliver the milk to a co-op - never mind the processing, packaging and then distribution for retail?

How is it possible?

Because, and I hate to say it but its largely true, the Thai ag industry is hopelessly inefficient right through the production chain - from planting, to crop yields to processing and logistics. Thailand lags behind in terms of efficency and productivity some 10years compared to China and most other Asian/Pacific countries.

As much as we like to harp on about the quality of local produce, the reality is that the consumer by & large is cost conscious before they are "quality" conscious: side by side a clove of Thai garlic and a clove of Chinese garlic look much the same, as does a kg of Thai rice, or kg or milk powder when compared to the eqivilant from China or Australia.

We can idealise the subject and think of it in micro terms, and sure, there will always be some who will consciously go out selecting quality above price, but those who can afford to do so are in the minority and will stay a minority as long as a free market exists if not because of choice, then because the wholesalers and ever larger growing chain-stall type supermarkets will continuelly be looking for greater profits to satisfy shareholders - which means (in a free regional market) they will buy from which ever supplier in which ever country can offer them a product at a cheaper price. e.g. Brazlian papaya in Tesco Lotus last Saturday beng sold at the same price as Thai papaya - quality: don't know, haven't eaten it yet but it looks and feels much the same as a Thai Papaya - but bigger.

Just how did Tesco/Lotus manage to get Papaya from Brazil to Thailand and sell it fresh for the same price as papaya grown in Thailand? Because Brazilian farmers produce so much more per/rai or acre for so much less than the Thais do - and thats the problem: at a macro scale even if the quaility was/is the same, unless Thailand can produce as efficiently as other countries, suppliers will source from elswhere.

[Gumballl]

I found this article that came out in 2003. Apparently US growers from the "Garlic Capitol of the World" (Gilroy, California) were also feeling the pinch from Chinese exports.

Here's the link: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn41...24/ai_n14553344

[Deesurin]

The only "real" Thai food I've ever tasted came from my wife's cooking in our kitchen. She won't "eat out" because she can't see if it's clean. My 'job" was to go to the Surin open market every day to buy the vegies and moo for our supper, always freash, always a fun trip.

I lost 25lbs eating like a horse . Garlic was local grown and a major part of the feast,as was most ,if not all of the vegies. It would be a cold day in He-l before we would eat chinese garlic... cheap is not better.

[sunreader]

As with many other cheap goods produced in China, this garlic is fake.

[Payboy]

Thai garlic is better in taste and medicinal properties, such as preventing cancer.

the nobel prize committee seem to have missed this one in their usual hurry...

[astral]

As with many other cheap goods produced in China, this garlic is fake.

[dee123]

Us poor rural villagers always have the best garlic, and peppers, and eggplant, and lettuce, and corn, and squash, and tomatoes, and ...and...and...and...

Local organic produce is best!!!! Words to live by.

Chownah

agree with chownah......its either in rural thailand or in my wife's suitcase coming back to uk

[Plus]

I think in city markets you can't tell whether garlic is local or Chinese. They buy it from big distributors, not grow themselves.

Any one knows how to spot local garlic?

[Pond Life]

Up here in the North...

in 2006 a few folks made a killing by buying fresh garlic for 10-15bht a kilo (not sure of exact numbers)

and selling it dried later in the year for 40 bht plus a kilo

what then happened in 2007 is all the rest of the villagers saw this and thought they could rinse and repeat (not that easy)

and bought up fresh garlic for 15-20bht a kilo

(also alot more people planted)

however when the time came to sell, the price of garlic plummeted and most of them could barely get 7-8bht a kilo

economics is not that simple for the villagers.

Just to add to "Shah Jahan's" info, which I agree with from local knowledge.

In my village they started pulling this years garlic crop a couple of weeks ago, the big buyers (I dont know who they are) are offering 3 baht per kilo for fresh garlic, very few farmers are selling, anyone who can, is storing/drying it in the hope that prices will rise.

[Gary A]

Just yesterday I was up on the mountain at my favorite watering hole. A pickup truck pulled in. The truck was loaded with garlic. He was selling it for 20 baht per kilo. I don't know how he could afford to harvest it it for 20 baht per kilo plus drive around trying to sell it.

[Tony Clifton]

Thaksin's rushed FTA+greedy prciks willing to screw their own country's farmers by importing cheap Chinese crap.

[Johpa]

In my village they started pulling this years garlic crop a couple of weeks ago, the big buyers (I dont know who they are) are offering 3 baht per kilo for fresh garlic, very few farmers are selling, anyone who can, is storing/drying it in the hope that prices will rise.

The big buyers are the large multinational agriculture corporations, ranging from ADM to Thailand's own CP group. They control the pricing and they ensure that the farmers around the world make as little money as socially acceptable. Thus for fresh produce it is imported product from the plantations of South America or the government controlled lands of China with most of the labor provided by modern day serfs, as in servitude. Independent farmers trying to eke out a minimally decent living in Thailand, even by rural Thai standards, are simply unable to compete. Sure there might be some slightly higher yields of some products in China. But the garlic yields up north were usually petty healthy. But it is the far vaster acreage combined with the minimal labor costs elsewhere that make the difference.

For decades the independent garlic farmers up north were able to sell their product directly to stores and to the traditional markets, often bypassing corporate distributors. This did not sit well with the folks down in Bangkok and thus less expensive Chinese (homeland) garlic was allowed in with no tariff. The importers are willing to take a small profit for a few years to knock out the local little guys because, well because it is the old doggy lick rule, because they can. It was also the rule that allowed Sam Walton to be so successful in the beginning by allowing store managers to run at a loss for the first year to force the competition out of business and then raise prices back up. (Walmart has morphed into a much different business today) .

Farmers around the world are rarely allowed to make any profit in our modern corporate "free" market. Read up on the illegal tactics and price fixing by ADM and their overseas competitors and ponder as to whether regional Ag-business people are not engaged in similar shenanigans in Asia.

[Jandajoy]

I like chinese garlic

And you certainly like too the heavy metals and the chemicals provided by the chinese garlic.

As a good french, I can only hate the chinese garlic, that has no taste. We have real one, strong and spicy, in the south of France, where garlic is broadly used in cocking.

Therefore I support the "garlic campaign" in Thailand. We need to fight back !

Apart from doing that with it ... do you ever eat it ?

Naka.

LMFAO

[Jandajoy]

At Christmas in the UK there was big thing about Chinese garlick be less than good.

My sister in law thought it was terribly important.

[Lickey]

I think in city markets you can't tell whether garlic is local or Chinese. They buy it from big distributors, not grow themselves.

Any one knows how to spot local garlic?

Plus, I dont think there is a way to tell the diference when buying garlic, only in the after effects perhaps after cooking, eg, if my mrs has had garlic and i have not, i cant tell, where-as in europe if your partner had garlic and you not, you would soon know!!!!!, perhaps the smaller the clove, the better?

Cheers, Lickey,,

[Tony Clifton]

My wife definitely identified the garlic at the market today as being Thai, not from China.

The Chinese are so good at knock-offs that they could actually produce a similar looking product with the help of local greedy wholesalers, the way it is tied up, etc.

[LaoPo]

My wife definitely identified the garlic at the market today as being Thai, not from China.

The Chinese are so good at knock-offs that they could actually produce a similar looking product with the help of local greedy wholesalers, the way it is tied up, etc.

Sometimes you make me laugh Tony... can't help it, sorry.

How do you describe 'greedy wholesalers' abroad....buying Thai agricultural products ?

And, as you know, they buy Billions of $'s of THAI agricultural products, also in China.

LaoPo

[Gary A]

I think in city markets you can't tell whether garlic is local or Chinese. They buy it from big distributors, not grow themselves.

Any one knows how to spot local garlic?

Plus, I dont think there is a way to tell the diference when buying garlic, only in the after effects perhaps after cooking, eg, if my mrs has had garlic and i have not, i cant tell, where-as in europe if your partner had garlic and you not, you would soon know!!!!!, perhaps the smaller the clove, the better?

Cheers, Lickey,,

I think you have it right Lickey. With Chinese garlic. the cloves are normally a lot bigger. Other than that, I think it woulld be really hard to tell.