Thai fruit exports to China have increased more than 500 per cent since the completion of a road linking the countries via Laos.
According to Thailand’s advisor to the minister of agriculture and cooperatives, Thammarat Wanglee, exports to China last year totalled 52,000 tonnes with a value of Bt722m (US$24.4m) – up from 8,000 tonnes at a value of Bt90m in 2010.
Freight travelling on the R3 road, which runs from Chiang Rai in northern Thailand to China’s Yunnan province, takes just two to three days to reach markets in China, said Wanglee.
To help facilitate further fresh produce sales into China the ministry of agriculture and cooperatives has established a trading website.
