The Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives has ordered serious action against unscrupulous importers selling off fruit from Vietnam as Thai durian, while Chinese media have voiced confidence that Thai authorities will remedy the situation.
The Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives Chalermchai Sri-on has issued an order to take serious criminal and civil action against the scam, including removal of GAP and GMP certification from the exporters selling Vietnamese durians as being from Thailand, calling for an operation to root out sellers of unripe durians to be expanded to include the new offenders. The previous action helped increase the price of Thai durians and demand from China, but the minister conceded the improvement may also have led to the new illicit activity. He was speaking in particular of Chantaburi’s geographically identified durians.
A task force in Chantaburi has been empowered to carry out arrests immediately upon the discovery of such fraudulent activity by certain traders. Reports have indicated the exporters are part of a larger international ring comprising Thai and Chinese businesses. Chinese media tracking the story have pointed to renewed confidence in the trade, after seeing the Ministry of Agriculture’s swift action.
A meeting on the issue of Vietnamese durians being passed off as being from Thailand decided on six urgent measures to be implemented by relevant agencies. They are vigilance in growing provinces such as those in the south; stringent checks at ports; action against producers as well as traders; serious action against offenders; coordination with trading partners and Vietnam to root out unscrupulous business people, and rejection of products that violate GAP and GMP certification. (NNT)
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