LAEM CHABANG/KUN MING, Apr. 20 (Xinhua) — On Wednesday (Apr. 19), the “Fruit Train” carried 23 containers of Thai durian and mangosteen. arrived in Kunming This train originates from Laem Chabang. important port of Thailand and runs to destinations in China through The “China-Laos Railway” is now becoming a “expressway” for Thai exporters to quickly access the Chinese market.
Orathai Ueatrakul, 67, former expert on plant import and export systems for the Thai Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives. In the past, most durians were exported to China by road and sea. This is an erratic route due to many factors such as bad weather. Sometimes it takes longer than 20 days to transport, but now Thai durians are transported to Kunming within 3 days thanks to the cold chain transportation on the China-Laos railway. Orathai expressed the hope that more Chinese consumers can enjoy fresh and delicious durian like Thais do.
Natee Chuansanit, director of the Institute of Commercial Economics Research and Development (IBERD), said that China is currently Thailand’s most important durian export market. And hope that Chinese consumers will have a better taste of durian. This will help expand the Thai durian market.
According to data from the Thai Ministry of Commerce, China is the largest Thai durian export market in 2022, accounting for more than 96 percent of the total durian export volume. equivalent to $ 3.09 billion (approximately 1.06 billion baht)
Thailand Royal Farm Group Co., Ltd. (Thailand Royal Farm Group) operates a durian export business in Chanthaburi Province. which is the country’s famous durian production area It’s been more than 16 years now.
Wirisa Wananurakskul CEO of the company He said the continuous increase in demand from the Chinese market caused the wholesale price of durian to skyrocket. And income from temporary job packing during the export season has become an important source of income for many locals.
The China-Laos Railway has opened a new route for exporting Thai durian and alleviate the problem of insufficient transport capacity that occurred earlier. Including unstable road and sea transport.
Kanokwan Suwankanit, Product Service Director State Railway of Thailand said the opening of the China-Laos railway has promoted the development of the transportation of goods by rail in Thailand The volume of cargo from Thailand to Laos has increased from 500-600 TEU (TEU: 20-foot container unit) in 2019 to 2,000 TEU in 2022 and is expected to increase to more than 3,000 TEU. EU in 2023
Source: Thai News Agency
