KRABI, Jan 20 — Wisarn Janthip, manager of a palm oil farmer cooperative in Krabi province, said he supported the government's policy to import 50,000 tons of raw palm oil to solve the immediate shortage but that the action should be finished as soon as possible to prevent local growers from the trouble of a lower oil palm nut price.
Mr Wisarn confirmed that the shortage of local palm oil occurred because of declining yields but he also said that when the government announced its policy to import palm oil, the local oil palm nut price dropped immediately from Bt6 to Bt5.80 per kilogram.
He said that the price was likely to fall further and unless the government finished the transaction quickly, the price could drop below Bt5 per kilogram.
Under that situation, oil palm growers would be certainly in trouble, especially in Krabi where there was the widest area of oil palm plantations in the country covering more than 1,600 square kilometers.
He said that local oil palm nut yields would increase in March and April. (MCOT online news)
