Thailand ships over half a million tonnes of durian in five months

Alongkorn Ponlaboot, who is also a member of a committee on fruit development and management, boasted that durian exports from February 1 to June 24 were higher than the same period last year. He did not provide any numbers for last year.

Alongkorn said durian exports tasted success because of effective supply and demand management by his committee, which is chaired by Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Chalermchai Sri-on.

Alongkorn was speaking at a press conference with Nawanit Polken, Agriculture Extension Department deputy director-general, who is secretary-general of the fruit committee.

Nawanit said the committee had been working with government agencies concerned in all provinces to draft operation plans for each province in accordance with the committee’s master development plan, resulting in greater fruit exports.

The committee found that more fruits would be harvested this year because of better production and larger orchards.

“For example, the total area for growing durian grew by 15 per cent compared to five years ago and production rose 7 per cent,” Nawanit pointed out.

He said Thailand has about 7.3 million rai of cash fruits, which are durian, mangosteen, rambutan, longan, southern langsat and lychee.

In 2021, the six fruits had a combined production of 3.44 million tonnes – a 7.9 per cent increase year-on-year – while 2 million tonnes were exported, generating revenue of 168.54 million baht.

The committee will try its best to prevent a lot of fruits being harvested at the same time because such a situation would affect market prices, Nawanit added.