Thailand: State to probe oil palm price dip in South

The Commerce Ministry has ordered the Internal Trade Department to visit provinces with palm plantations as oil palm prices fell to find the cause and suggest preventive measures. Commerce Minister Phumtham Wechayachai told Wattanasak Sur-iam, director-general of the Internal Trade Department, to visit the southern provinces of Phangnga, Krabi and Surat Thani to evaluate the cause of the decline in oil palm prices following complaints by growers of the reduced purchase prices. Mr Wattanasak said the local price of domestic fresh palm nuts plunged from 4.98 baht per kilogramme to 4.60 baht last week because of oversupply from April to May. In addition to a glut, the nuts are low quality because of the extremely hot weather, meaning they did not naturally ripen, which decreases the percentage of palm oil, resulting in a lower purchase price, he said. Mr Wattanasak said the prices of local fresh palm nuts are expected to recover after farmers were asked to delay their harvest and cut ...