A high-powered Thai trade and investment delegation to China led by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva yesterday sealed 18 business deals worth a combined Bt36bn, according to Thai media reports.
Thai fruits were one of the big winners in the deals, which also covered exports of rice, tapioca and jewellery.
The signing ceremony took place at the JW Marriot Hotel In Beijing on the second day of the Thai PM’s official visit to China, and Thailand also bought a major “agricultural products caravan” to the Chinese capital aimed at further expanding trade ties.
Commerce Minister Porntiva Nakasai told Thai daily The Nation that the Department of Export Promotion had entered an agreement with the Northern International Group in Tianjin to promote Thai agricultural and industrial goods to China.
One of the highlights for Thai fruits was a deal between Thai fruit firm Patcharavipa Sweet Tamarind and China’s Tai Na International Group to establish a distribution network for 15,000 tonnes of fresh fruit per year worth Bt1bn, Ms Porntiva said.
The Thai Commerce Minister also met with her counterpart from China’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) to request faster quarantine processing procedures for Thai fresh fruits.
Meanwhile, representatives of the Thai Chamber of Commerce took part in a seminar on trade and investment between Thailand and China with more than 200 executives from the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade. Business matchmaking for more than 100 companies also took place at the event.
The agricultural and fruit exhibition in Beijing followed an earlier event in Tianjin and the Thai government plans to hold three further events this year in Dalian, Shenyang and X’ian, according to The Nation. The roadshow is aimed at boosting sales of Thai agricultural products to northern China, as Thailand’s agricultural trade with its giant neighbour is currently centred on the south of the country.
Thailand’s fruit exports to China have reportedly risen by more than a third over the past three years, reaching a value of US$140m last year. Figures for the first five months of this year reveal a 13.7 per cent growth.
