Palm oil farmers call for govt lift after blaming it for price plunge

Farmers are worried that the price of fresh palm nuts will continue to drop between now and June – harvest season for palm fruit in the southern part of Thailand.

An oil palm farmer in Krabi said that the price of palm oil fruit had dramatically fallen since the government allowed imports of palm fruit in February.

“The price of fresh palm nuts fell to only Bt3.60 per kilogram. The average price in some areas shrank to Bt3.40 per kilo, which is much lower than the government’s promise of maintaining the price above Bt5 per kilo,” said the farmer, who asked not to be named.

According to a Commerce Ministry report, the average price of fresh palm nuts is Bt3.60-Bt4.30 per kilo. 

The source said the price of fresh palm fruit had dropped continuously since the government allowed the import of crude palm oil. As a result, some palm oil refinery plants had not needed to purchase fresh palm fruit from local market.

Although Commerce Minister General Chatchai Sarikulya called for palm oil producers to cooperate and purchase fresh palm oil at Bt5 per kilo, most plants have not obeyed since the price of fresh palm fruit has continued to drop.

Wiwan Boonyaprateeprat, secretary-general of the Thai Oil Palm and Palm Oil Association, explained that the price plummet was the result of a greater supply of palm fruit. The price of crude palm oil also decreased continuously and is now at Bt21-22 per kilo after not being less than Bt25 per kilo previously, she said, adding that the average price was normally Bt28-30 a kilo.

She said that private enterprises had tried to help farmers purchase palm fruit at a good price, but the situation was also dependent on the percentage of oil in fresh palm nuts.

To help farmers, Wiwan said the government should not intervene in the market, but should promote the market by using more of biodiesel.