Border trade for Thai fruits boosted

BANGKOK, June 14 (TNA) - Thailand now focuses on exporting locally-grown fruits to neighbouring countries through border trade to not only promote the Thai fruits, but also ease this year's oversupply of the Thai products. Thailand's eastern Chantaburi province, where a number of orchards of Thai fruits are located, is, for instance, coordinating with a border defence force for Chantaburi and adjacent Trat provinces to extend the daily closing time of a Thai-Cambodian border checkpoint until 10pm, from 5pm, to provide more time for local orchards to export their fruits to neighbouring Cambodia and Vietnam. Besides, Chantaburi Governor Surachai Khan-asa on Friday presided over a ceremony to release 47 caravans of the provincial fruits to the Thai Northeast to help ease their excess supply, including that of mangosteen and rambutan. According to the provincial governor, up to about 100,000 tonnes of rambutan are expected to be available from Chantaburi's orchards this month alone, an oversupply, prompting the province to have, thus,set up a coordinate centre to distribute the provincial fruits to other areas to maintain their market prices and local orchards' earnings. Meanwhile, Deputy Finance Minister Tanusak Lek-uthai acknowledged that the popularity of a Chinese film, "Lost in Thailand", has attracted a larger number of Chinese tourists into the Kingdom, prompting the Thai government to support future filming of Chinese movies to, among others, help promote and further boost exports of tasty Thai fruits to the immense Chinese market. (TNA)