No more palm oil imports, sufficient supply in Thailand

BANGKOK, March 2 (TNA) - A Thai government sub-committee on palm oil and oil palm management has confirmed that there is now sufficient palm oil supply and new imports of the product are, thus, unnecessary. Thai Commerce Minister General Chatchai Sarikulya told journalists on Monday, after the sub-committee's latest meeting, that the Office of Agricultural Economics, under the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, and his ministry's Department of Internal Trade have reported an increase in local oil palm nut yield now. General Chatchai said the authorities expect the yield to rise from 614,000 tons in January to 889,000 tons in March. As of February 25, General Chatchai noted, the local raw palm oil stock stood at 124,000 tons and the amount should reach 155,000 tons in March and the level should return to normal at 210,000 tons in April. According to the commerce minister, Thailand's imports of 50,000 tons of raw palm oil in February has been turned into 32.65 million liters of bottled and bagged oil for domestic consumption, while about 4.65 million more liters will be produced, which goes well with the government's plan to minimize impacts of the palm oil imports. The minister revealed his ministry has formed a committee to work out solutions to keep the balance of the local palm nut yield and prices in a month, consisting of representatives of farmers, business operators, consumers and government agencies concerned. The minister said he will ask business operators to buy quality palm nuts at the price of at least five baht per kilogram. (TNA)