According to CCTV news, data from the Thai Ministry of Commerce showed that Thai fruit exports in the first two months of this year were US$461 million, an increase of 107% over the same period last year. In addition, the data released by the Thailand International Trade Department showed that the border trade volume between Thailand and China in the first two months was 42.27 billion baht (about 1.347 billion US dollars), an increase of 46.93% year-on-year.
China and ASEAN are Thailand’s largest export markets for fruits. The commodities that Thailand exports to China through border trade are mainly fresh fruits, quick-frozen fruits and dried fruits, as well as some rubber products. For a long time, fruits from neighboring countries have been exported to China under the guise of Thai fruits. The Thai Ministry of Commerce has recently stepped up its crackdown on violations of fruit exporters.
In March 2021, Thailand began to conduct key inspections on green pomelo exported to China, and seized green pomelo from neighboring countries, which was exported to China using Thai production quarantine certification. According to the Thai Chinese Daily News, the Thai customs department recently discovered similar situations in 9 types of fruits exported to China. These fruits are mainly longan, young coconut, jackfruit, pineapple, mango, banana, lotus mist and rambutan. At present, Thailand has strengthened the supervision of the origin of exported fruits, and the list of exported fruits under key supervision has increased to 12 types.
According to statistics, Thailand has signed and approved a total of 79,699 fruit origin certificates in 2020, with a net weight of more than 1.52 million tons. The main fruits involved are durian, longan, mango, mangosteen, jackfruit, green pomelo, pineapple, green coconut, banana, Lotus mist, rambutan, bovine fruit, etc.