ID :
283891
Thu, 05/02/2013 - 14:25
Auther :

Government urged to solve plunging palm nut prices

BANGKOK, May 2 (TNA) - Palm growers in several Thai provinces, mostly in the southern region, have demanded that the government solve the problem of plunging palm nut prices and have threatened to block the Asian Highway unless the administration came up with a satisfactory response within seven days. The local palm growers, who rallied at Phattalung's Provincial Hall on Thursday, demanded that the government guarantee the minimum price of palm nuts at five baht per kilogram, from its current market price at about 2.50 baht per kilogram, and that the government pass an oil palm act, set up a palm fund and use palm as renewable energy. At Nakhon Si Thammarat's Provincial Hall, also in the Thai South, local palm farmers sent their written demand to the government through the provincial governor, calling for the administration to raise the domestic palm nut prices, blaming the current plunge of palm nut prices on some big companies and government agencies which have imported a large amount of palm oil from neighbouring Indonesia. In adjacent Krabi province, farmers have harvested palm nuts early although they are not ripe, as the local palm nut growers fear their prices may fall further, from about 2.75 baht per kilogram currently, demanding as well that the Thai government set the minimum palm nut price at 5 baht per kilogram so that they can survive. (TNA)

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