Thailand prepares farm products for AEC

BANGKOK, September 6 (TNA) - The Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives and the private sector are preparing Thai farm products for the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) over the next three years, including halal food for regional Muslim consumers. Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Theera Wongsamut said that his ministry and the local private sector are working together to promote 16 main Thai agricultural products, namely rice, sugarcane, tapioca, field corn, pineapple, sweet corn, longan, oil palm, rubber, pork, beef cattle, dairy cattle, broiler chicken, egg-laying hen, prawn and tuna. According to the minister, the private sector has proposed that the Thai government develop more varieties of indigenous rice and permit tapioca imports for processing in the country, as well as expand markets for sweet corn and allow imports of concentrated latex from neighboring countries for midstream and downstream production in the country. The agriculture and cooperatives minister told reporters that his ministry will work out strategies in accordance with the private sector's proposals in the lead-up to the Single Economic Community of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) by 2015. Meanwhile, Thailand has also eyed to become a leading producer and exporter of halal products in the region and even in the world in the near future, given the Kingdom's current status as Asia's number one and the world's 15th food producer and exporter. Deputy Commerce Minister Poom Sarapol announced the national goal at a business seminar, themed “Phuket Andaman Halal for Tourism 2012” or PATH, held in the renowned southern Thai resort island on Wednesday, acknowledging that the country has been known for its strength as a major world producer of halal accredited food, such as rice, shrimp, chicken meat and seafood, and can potentially become one of the world's major suppliers of halal products. Thailand is now the world's sixth largest halal food exporter, with shipments of halal food to 57 countries worldwide last year reaching 6.83 billion US dollars, a 43.35 per cent year-on-year surge. (TNA)