Thailand has already signed free trade agreements with numerous countries. China is the third largest export market for Thailand, behind the ASEAN-countries and the USA. The overall value of fruit and manufactured fruit product export from Thailand to China reached 740 million USD in 2017. That is an increase of 25.46% in comparison with 2016. Product varieties include the durian, longan, and mangosteen.
The Thai Bureau for Agricultural Promotion recently estimated that the fruit production volume in the east of Thailand will go down as a result of weather conditions in that area. The estimated decrease in production volume is particularly high for mangosteens, roughly 64.81% in comparison with last year. As a result of this development, the mangosteen volume on the market may only reach 36 thousand tons this year. In previous years that could be as much as 100 thousand tons.
In addition, many Chinese traders purchased large volumes of mangosteen for roughly 40 yuan [6.28 USD] per kg. This means that the domestic consumption and export to countries such as Cambodia and Vietnam have even smaller volumes available. Chinese traders also bought Thai durian in large volumes. The price was 13-16 yuan [2.04-2.51 USD] per kg. This price is relatively high, and as a result, the domestic price has also increased.
Source: iFresh Fair