Thailand looks into impacts from Indonesia’s ban on imported farm products

BANGKOK, February 6 (TNA) - The Thai government is looking into impacts from Indonesia’s ban on several imported farm products and is sending a senior official to urgently discuss the issue with Jakarta. Expressing his concerns over the Indonesian ban, which may, particularly, affect Thailand's exports of durian this year, Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Yukol Limlaemthong told reporters on Wednesday that he has ordered Deputy Permanent Secretary for Agriculture and Cooperatives Chalit Damrongsak to fly to Jakarta to urgently discuss and address the issue with Indonesian authorities. According to the minister, the value of Thai durian exports to Indonesia alone has reached as much as 600 million baht annually. As the Thai Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives plans to keep the number of durian yields this year for both domestic consumption and exports, the minister acknowledged unless Thailand could export durian to Indonesia, his ministry would try to sell the fruit to new markets like Vietnam and China. Most durian plantations are in Thailand's central and southern regions, where a total of over 500,000 tons of the fruit are normally produced annually. (TNA)