Officials of the Business Development Department will help farmers to team up together to form companies or other business entities to take advantage of Alibaba’s online super-market to sell their agricultural produce.
Commerce Minister Sontirat Sontijirawong said Monday (April 23) that with the launch of Alibaba’s Tmall online supermarket in Thailand, Thai entrepreneurs and agriculturalists must adapt themselves with the new marketing platform so they can have access to new markets and new consumers.
He disclosed that, so far, over 100 durian orchard owners have registered to sell their durian online via Tmall.com, adding that more Thai fruits besides durian would be available on sale online to Chinese consumers such as mangosteen and longan.
The first online order of 80,000 durian shortly after the Thai durian was put on sale on Alibaba’s Tmall.com on Thursday (April 19) and Alibaba’s pledge to buy Thai durian worth over 10 billion baht in three years have driven the price of durain at the orchard from an average of 60-70 baht per kilogramme to 79 baht/kg for Grade A durian.
Mr Sontirat urged Thai people not to be panic with the first online sale of durian to Chinese consumers in China via Tmall.com, noting that the 80,000 durian sold amounts to just a fraction of durian output this year which was estimated to be around 760,000 fruits.
Despite the good prospect from Alibaba’s online supermarket, a few farmer’s group leaders expressed cautious optimism.
Mr Chotichai Buadit, leader of the Rayong’s agri-tourism group, warned of possible Chinese trade monopoly and price suppression in the future.
He said durian orchard owners should not be over-excited with the first big lot sale of durain by Alibaba, saying that the orchard owners should explore other markets besides China.
Mr Suvit Saeng-arkart, another farmer leader in Rayong, said farmers should focus on improving the quality of their fruits while, at the same time, should familiarize themselves with e-commerce or online sale.
An environment and health expert, Mr Somnuck Jongmeewasin, warned that online sale of Thai fruits could encourage farmers to turn to mono-culture to meet market demand.
Source link
