Laos to ask Thailand to lift corn import ban
21/11/2008 17:39
The government of Laos is preparing to ask Thailand to lift its ban on the
import of Lao sweet corn after learning Lao growers are facing hardship, the Lao
newspaper Vientiane Times reported today, citing the Lao Ministry of Industry
and Commerce.
The official letter to the Thai government drafted by Lao
government on Wednesday raised request on the immediate resumption of sweet corn
imports from Laos so that growers will be able to earn a living, according to
Lao ministry's Export-Import Department Director General Khoun
Southammakhot.
Laos and Thailand were neighboring countries and should help
each other when one was faced with a difficult situation, said
Khoun.
Thailand stopped importing sweet corn from Laos earlier in November as
a measure to stabilize the price of its own crop, said the
government.
Although Thailand had made a commitment to resume the import of
sweet corn in early 2009, Lao farmers could not wait until then to sell their
crop as they have no means of storing the crop for sale after harvesting, said
Khoun.
The government was also looking for alternative markets in China and
Vietnam, but these countries had sufficient supplies of their own so the price
they were offering for Lao produce was lower than last year, said
Khoun.
Thailand requires 4 million tons of sweet corn a year, but can only
obtain 3 million tons from both domestic and foreign sources. Laos exports about
200,000 tons to Thailand annually, said Thai Royal Embassy Commercial Attach in
Vientiane Chalaemphon Pongchabubnapa.
Xinhua
|
