THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
nationthailand

Indonesian quota a boost for durian traders

Indonesian quota a boost for durian traders

An opportunity has arisen for Thai durian exporters to increase sales of the "king of fruit", following Indonesia's recent decision to grant a special Thai quota for durians, after previously planning to halt all imports during the second half of the ye

Somkiat Triratpan, deputy director-general of the Trade Negotiations Department, said the Indonesian authorities had opened a special import quota for 5,000 tonnes of Thai durian this month and October.

"Indonesia is a big market for Thai fruit exports. Indonesian people favour Thai durian. The extension of the import quota for Thai farmers should be an opportunity for them to generate better prices," he said.

Indonesia had previously said it would temporarily stop durian imports in the latter half of this year in order to protect its domestic market. However, following

official negotiations, the Indonesian government had now agreed to provide a special quota for Thai exports, he said.

To facilitate more fruit and other fresh-produce exports to Indonesia, Thailand has also called for Jakarta’s cooperation in accelerating the establishment of a mutually recognised arrangement to control farm imports from Thailand, in particular for shalotts and fruit, Somkiat said.

This is to ensure that fresh products are not ruined due to long delays for inspection after arriving at Indonesian ports, he explained.

Indonesia is the eighth-largest market for Thai durians. In the first seven months of the year, exports of the fruit to Indonesia shot up 273 per cent year on year to Bt10.8 million. Export value for the whole of last year was Bt5.82 million. In a separate matter, Somkiat said Thailand now had a greater chance to export agricultural products to Russia following the country’s ban on such imports from the United States and the European Union.

Moscow recently imposed the ban in retaliation against sanctions imposed on Russia over its stance towards Ukraine.

In the upcoming second subcommittee meeting on trade and economic cooperation between Thailand and Russia, the two countries will talk in November about ways to expand bilateral trade and investment, Somkiat said.

The emphasis will be on cooperation in the energy, tourism and agriculture sectors.

Meanwhile, Thailand and Asean are set to finalise details of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) by the end of the year, he said.

The RCEP will be between 10-member Asean and the six coun-tries with which it has free-trade agreements: China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand.

Negotiations will be about the details of tariff-rate reduction, the liberalisation of services and investment, and cooperation on c-commerce, the development of small and medium-sized enterprises, and government procurement.

Asean will also further negotiate with Japan over service-sector liberalisation before submitting pro

posals to the Asean-Japan leaders’ summit, to be held early next year.

The regional grouping will also form closer ties with Canada in regard to trade and investment, with the priorities being cooperation in education and trade facilitation, the department head said.

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