Thailand maintains world’s largest producer of pineapples

BANGKOK, May 14 (TNA) - Thailand has maintained the world’s largest producer of pineapples, with total produce surpassing the Philippines and Brazil, encouraging more attempts by relevant parties to sell more Thai pineapples on the world market. Niwat Sutheemeechaikul, Deputy Permanent Secretary for Agriculture and Cooperatives, confirmed Monday that Thailand has become the world’s largest pineapple producer, followed by the Philippines and Brazil, with the country's total pineapple produce expected to reach about 2.5 million tons this year. Niwat said that Thailand's pineapple productivity stands at about four million tons per rai (1,600 square meters) on average and there are 640,000 rai or 1,024 square kilometers of pineapple plantations in the country, out of the total global pineapple production at some 9.4 million tons. According to the senior official, major markets for Thai pineapple exports include the United States, the European Union (EU) and Japan, with the Netherlands and Germany becoming Thailand's key export markets for pineapples, although ongoing economic woes in the US, the EU and Japan are reducing the export of Thai pineapple to the markets this year. The senior official said that Thailand's production of ready-to-eat fresh pineapples has been increasing, at as many as 200,000-300,000 tons yearly, thanks to rising demand from Southeast Asian and other Asian countries with Singapore being the largest import market for Thai ready-to-eat fresh pineapples at about 1,500-2,000 tons annully, followed by Japan at some 250 tons and Malaysia at 100-200 tons, noting that Thailand exports only 3,000 tons of the ready-to-eat fresh pineapples yearly; while the rest are for domestic consumption. On the other hand, Thailand produces some 2-2.5 million tons of pineapple for factories yearly and there are now about 34 canned pineapple factories in the country, generating some 19 billion baht from their exports of canned pineapple, 6 billion baht from pineapple juice and 2 billion baht from pineapple paste yearly, leading to their combined revenues amounting to about 25 billion baht annually and earning the country high national income compared with other Thai farm products. (TNA)