Foreigners not dominating the fruit industry, govt says

Government spokesman Maj-General Sansern Kaewkamnerd said a check on the registration of fruit middlemen all over the country had found that only 95 out of 1,139 registered middlemen, or “long” as they are called in the trade, were Thais who act as nominees for foreign middlemen.
There were only five registered foreign middlemen, and they were Chinese, Japanese, Dutch and Indian, according to the spokesman.
The move came after complaints from fruit middlemen on the eastern seaboard, particularly in Chanthaburi, a key source of fruit, that Chinese fruit traders were attempting to dominate the trade through nominees.
Sansern said the government was focused on ensuring fairness in the fruit trade, while protecting Thai middlemen against any foul play by foreigners.
He said that foreigners could work as fruit middlemen in Thailand but the law did not allow them to use local nominees to run the business.