Bangkok (VNA) – The Thai government is set to sell a combined 16,700 tonnes offruit worth 762 million baht (23.68 million USD) via five modern tradeoperators during the harvest season in an effort to offset decline in exports.

The Ministry of Commerce signed a memorandum of understanding(MoU) with Big C, Tesco Lotus, The Mall, Makro and Tops Market to serve asdistribution channels for fruit harvested over the next 3-4 months, the Bangkok Post newspaper quoted MinisterJurin Laksanawisit as saying.

Underthe MoU, participating modern trade operators have signed 40 purchase contractswith farmers, farmers' groups and community enterprises, covering nine fruits.

Thefruit management plan needs urgent adjustment this year thanks to the outbreak,he said.

Inprevious years, exports would absorb as much as 60 percent of production. Thisyear Thailand needs to focus more on the domestic market, offline and offlinesales to help offset lower exports, Jurin added.

Ministryofficials in the provinces have been tasked with selling as much fruit aspossible.

Earlierthis month the Commerce and Agriculture ministries teamed up to focus on thedomestic market, covering production management; distribution channels;business matching among traders, importers and Thai operators; financialsupport; and safety standards.

ThailandPost will be tasked with handling fruit delivery, with the state subsidisingthe delivery fee, while producers will be trained on online sales.

Fruitshave become a foreign currency earner of Thailand thanks to China’s hugeconsumption. The country is the third leading fruit exporter of China,following Vietnam and Malaysia.

Theoverall value of Thai fruit export to China reached 3.2 billion USD in thefirst 10 months of 2019, making it the world’s sixth largest fruit supplier./.