Price guarantee scheme for oil palm to be extended until November
The government’s Bt4 per kilogram subsidy for oil-palm farmers will be extended to November to help promote the production of palm oil for export as well as for manufacturing B10 biodiesel, Maj-General Patchasak Patirupanon said on Wednesday (August 19)
Patchasak is deputy spokesperson for Deputy PM Prawit Wongsuwan.
“The National Oil Palm Policy Commission, chaired by General Prawit, agreed today [Wednesday] to extend the price guarantee scheme by another three months. Under the scheme, which was scheduled to expire this month, farmers are paid Bt4 for each kilogram of oil palm they sell to refineries,” he said. “We expect this extension to promote the production of oil palm and boost the export of crude palm oil by at least 300,000 tonnes by January 2021.”
The commission also acknowledged that the Bank of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives has paid 375,202 farmers a total of Bt6.73 billion since the scheme was launched on October 1, 2019. The scheme was initially set to run until August 14, 2020.
“General Prawit has also told the commission to coordinate with public and private sectors to promote the use of B10 biodiesel, which will help boost the price of oil palm and prevent an oversupply in the domestic market,” Patchasak said.