Government to push Chanthaburi the Asian city of fruits

NONTHABURI, April 6 (TNA) -- The government are putting efforts to make the eastern province of Chanthaburi the Asian city of fruits, said Deputy Commerce Minister Sonthirat Sonthijirawong. Mr Sonthirat said after holding talks with Chanthaburi officials on Wednesday that there should not be problems on prices of durian, known as the king of Thai fruits, because of a huge demand by Chinese market this year. Fruits sold by growers and traders in Chanthaburi stand at about 70 billion baht annually and their revenue is expected to jump to around 90 billion baht in 2017, he said. The Commerce Ministry plans to cooperate with the Chanthaburi Provincial Administrative Organisation in pushing the province the Asian city of fruits and total revenue from tourism, sale of jewelry and cross-border trade with Cambodia to soar to 400 billion baht within the next four years, said Mr Sonthirat. Trade on durian is now administered mostly by Chinese traders and preventive measures are needed to protect its prices from falling by the Chinese traders. Also, the Ministry’s Internal Trade Department plans to intervene the durian market in the province by creating a website so that future sales could be made before durians enter the market late May. (TNA)