BANGKOK, Jan 21 — The first 12,000 tonnes of palm oil will arrive in Thailand within 10 days at latest and the rest will be delivered within next month, according to Jintana Chaiyawonnagal, chairperson of the Public Warehouse Organisation (PWO) board of directors.
The imports would secure supplies for local use and domestic oil palm growers should not worry because the government guaranteed the minimum price of oil palm nuts at 5 baht per kilogram.
As the cabinet approved the import of 50,000 tons of crude palm oil, the PWO will spend about 1.5 billion baht for the imported oil and the task would be done by mid-February. The imports will ensure sufficient supplies for local consumption for 1-2 months, Ms Jintana said.
The warehouse organization agreed a good price with Malaysian palm oil traders and the agency could sell the imported oil to operators who belong to palm oil associations at Bt27.50-Bt28 per litre.
The private sector accepted the price and the oil would be processed into refined palm oil for consumption to be available in bags and bottles at the retail price that the Department of Internal Trade caps at Bt42 per litre.
The 50,000-ton import will be delivered in 4-5 trips of vessels and each trip will take seven days.
The first lot should arrive early next week, Ms Jintana said.
Thailand requires palm oil refiners buying imported oil from the PWO to buy oil palm nuts from local farmers at at least five baht per kilogram.
Ms Jintana commented that farmers' costs stood at 3.50 baht per kilogram, so the guaranteed price of five baht should be acceptable to them.
About 10 operators were interested in the business with the PWO, she added. (MCOT online news)
