High demand for Thai fruits in Hong Kong

BANGKOK, May 30 (TNA) - There is now a high demand for Thai fruits in Hong Kong, especially after the business island has found no dangerous residues in Thai fruits. Commerce Minister Apiradi Tantraporn told journalists of the update on May 29, noting that a delegation of Hong Kong’s Food Research Laboratory, led by Dr. Chung Wai Cheung, visited Thailand recently to inspect the laboratories of the Thai Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives' Department of Agriculture, as well as local farmlands and fruit export packaging plants in Rayong Province in the Thai East, a hub of Thai orchards, and found no hazardous residues in Thai fruits. Apiradi acknowledged the Hong Kong inspectors' team was satisfied with the Thai government’s control on the standards of fruits, especially durian that is now highly demanded in Hong Kong. Apiradi said the Hong Kong delegates also expressed their impression with the screening and packaging of Thai fruit exports. Affirming that no turmeric-dyed durians have been found in Hong Kong, the commerce minister said that the high market demand and a lower yields in Thailand have boosted the retail price of Thai durian by 15-20 per cent, while the import price of Thai durians by the Hong Kong market has soared by 30-35 per cent. According to the minister, about 40 per cent of Thai durian exports went to Hong Kong alone last year, when the overall exports of fresh Thai fruits amounted to 960.93 million US dollars or more than 30 billion baht, a 11.8 per cent year-on-year increase, with exports of fresh Thai durians alone estimated at 397.09 million US dollars or 12.7 billion baht. During the the first four months of this year, the minister revealed, the value of Thai durian exports amounted to 4.1 billion baht, a 75.8 per cent year-on-year jump, with China being the largest import market, followed by Hong Kong, Vietnam, Taiwan and Malaysia. (TNA)