Thailand suspends imports of mangosteen from Indonesia

BANGKOK, July 3 (TNA) - The Thai government, through the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, will suspend imports of mangosteen from neighboring Indonesia pending the quality inspection. Deputy Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Lak Wajananawatch told journalists in Bangkok on July 2, following a meeting of his ministry's Fruit Board, that his ministry has informed Jakarta the suspension of imported mangosteen will take effect as of July 20, 2018. "Monday's meeting of the Fruit Board, where the final decision was made, followed last month's request by the Thai side to send a team of officials to Indonesia for a quality control (QC) purpose but we haven't got any response from Jakarta", the deputy minister explained. The deputy minister said the latest Fruit Board meeting also discussed this year's produce of Thailand's fresh fruits that will come out over the next few months, including longan from the Thai North, as well as durian, mangosteen, rambutan and southern langsat from the Thai South. According to the deputy minister, Thailand's total produce this year of longan alone should be about 382,000 tons, about 82,000 tons of which will be exported. (TNA)