Bangkok (VNA) – The Commerce Ministry of Thailand is considering toreduce the period for coconut imports and introduce tighter control onimporters to address the domestic coconut price slump.

According to Adul Chotinisakorn, director general of theministry’s Foreign Trade Department, the ministry is working with theAgriculture and Cooperatives Ministry to monitor the domestic coconut situationafter local growers complained that the current price dip was caused by a floodof imported coconuts.

According to binding tariffs from the World TradeOrganisation (WTO), Thailand imports 2,317 tonnes of coconut a year.

The quota is now taxed at 20 percent and the import tarifffor non-quota trade is 54 percent. Eligible importers must be juristic personswho operate factories that use coconuts as raw materials.

There are no import quotas under the WTO from January to Mayand November to December.

But most importers use the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement, whichbans tariffs for coconuts processed into vegetable oil.

Last year, Thailand imported 416,124 tonnes of coconut worth4.62 billion baht (139 million USD), of which 384,102 tonnes were fromIndonesia, 15,613 tonnes from Vietnam, 2,864 tonnes from Myanmar and 13,524tonnes from Malaysia.

Thailand is expected to produce 860,000 tonnes of coconutsthis year, much lower than domestic demand, which is estimated at 1.1 milliontonnes. Therefore, Thailand is relying on imports of 241,000 tonnes in 2018.

In the first five months of this year, Thailand importednearly 170,000 tonnes of coconut worth 1.51 billion baht, down from over 178,000tonnes worth 2.10 billion bath in the same period of last year.-VNA