Indonesian destruction of Thai fruit exports worries commerce minister

BANGKOK, Aug 16 (TNA) -- Commerce Minister Sontirat Sontijirawong has ordered the commerce attaché in Indonesia to monitor situations related to the burning of Thai longkong and rose apples and send him urgent reports for impact assessment. The minister said the commerce attaché and other relevant officials would monitor the situations after the report that Indonesia found fruit flies in the Thai fruit exports. The officials would also investigate the cause of the matter and then the Commerce Ministry would check export standard and discuss the issue with exporters and importers, Mr Sontirat said. He said it was still too early to assess impacts on fruit exports pending detailed information on the amounts and orders of the concerned longkong and rose apple exports. He had yet to learn from officials whether the problem happened to parts or whole lots of the exports. In another development, Mr Sontirat said the Commerce Ministry planned to introduce local and international e-commerce channels to more small and medium-sized enterprises in regions to help them export their products. The plan included Thaitrade.com which promoted Business-to-Consumer trade, the minister said. (TNA)