The passing of King Bhumibol Adulyadej last October hashad a noticeable impact on fresh produce imports in Thailand.
A number of global suppliers and their import partners respectfully stopped or toned down their intended promotional activity following the monarch’s death, as the country observed one year of official mourning.
“Gift giving as part of a celebration is an important sales channel so as events and festivals were scaled back, or cancelled, there was sales impact,” says T&G Global’s regional manager for South East Asia, Victor Anderson.
With the official mourning period now finished, hopes are high the upcoming New Year period will provide fresh impetus for the import trade, as the country prepares for the coronation of His Majesty Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun.
However, the obstacles faced by importers over the 2017 campaign have run deeper than the proceedings at the Grand Palace.
“From February onwards, the market was really, really down, mostly due to the oversupply of many fruits, such as Indian grapes and Peruvian grapes,' said Wipavee Watcharakorn, managing director of leading Thai importer Vachamon Food.'Then from May to July, we had lots of Thai fruits available, and the season was longer than usual, which again made for the slow business of imported fruits.'
Watcharakorn said the import trade had picked up from August onwards, with Chinese grapes, New Zealand apples and Australian mandarins winning favour among local consumers.
This is an extract from an article that will appear in the November edition of Asiafruit.
