FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
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Government intervention sought to deal with mangosteen oversupply problem

Government intervention sought to deal with mangosteen oversupply problem

The Thai Fruit Export Association has urged the government to solve the mangosteen oversupply problem by having agricultural cooperatives and private partners buy the fruit and gift it to Covid-19 patients.

“The Covid-19 lockdown and travel restrictions have prevented over 900 fruit resellers in the Central and East regions from travelling to plantations in the South to buy mangosteen,” the association president, Sanchai Puranachaikhiri, said on Monday.

“Currently plantations in Chumphon, Surat Thani, Nakhon Si Thammarat and Narathiwat provinces have an oversupply of mangosteen.”

Sanchai added that even if the resellers are permitted to travel, they will still have a hard time selling the fruit as markets in many provinces have been ordered shut while the export routes to China and Vietnam are also restricted by the authorities to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

Government intervention sought to deal with mangosteen oversupply problem

“The only tangible solution now is to increase domestic consumption of mangosteen,” he added. “The government should order agricultural cooperatives in each province, or invite private companies to buy mangosteen and deliver it to Covid-19 treatment facilities and community isolation centres as a gift to patients. This way we can relieve the mangosteen supply problem and overcome low fruit demand due to fear of Covid-19 among consumers.”

Sanchai added that the government should also use diplomacy to negotiate with Chinese and Vietnamese authorities to open more export routes as well as shorten the Covid-19 screening process.

“In a normal situation it takes only five days to transport the fruit from plantations across borders. However, due to the Covid-19 situation the trucks are stuck at border checkpoints waiting to be processed for another 4-5 days. This has resulted in our export capacity being cut by half,” he said.

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