CityNews – The government has announced today that they are issuing a new policy to help with the falling longan prices – eat more longans!
The Deputy Minister from the Ministry of Commerce announced the policy in response to falling longan prices, dropping to around 10 to 12 baht per kilo.
The highest price for premium grade longans (AA) is usually around 38 baht a kilo but this has dropped to just 20 to 24 baht a kilo, and for the lowest grade (C) the price has dropped from 20 baht a kilo to just 10 baht.
According to a recent report released by the Ministry of Commerce, only around five to ten percent of longans are being consumed in the country, with the rest exported globally or processed into other products.
The market has seen a dramatic drop after the Chinese market delayed their orders on dried longan to get cheaper end of season prices and an order for fresh longans to Indonesia has also been postponed. In addition, this year the number of longan farms has increased creating a higher supply that has been hit by a lower demand compared to 2016.
As a result, the Ministry of Commerce has announced a new policy that aims to promote in-country consumption to help farmers sell their crops. This poilcy will also see an increase of longan sales in places that do no produce the fruit as well as working with 3,000 local government and state enterprises to help with distribution.