Ratchaburi: Minister Supajee visited Ratchaburi province to monitor a model community-based fragrant coconut processing plant. She ordered accelerated expansion to break the price-depressing cycle and sustainably resolve the crisis facing the Thai fragrant coconut market.
According to Thai News Agency, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Commerce, Ms. Supajee Suthamphan, visited the "Community Coconut Processing Unit" at the Thai Aromatic Coconut Central Market Community Enterprise (Coconut Breeze Company) in Damnoen Sawat District, Ratchaburi Province, to monitor the progress of operations. The aim is to promote the upgrading of the Thai aromatic coconut industry throughout the supply chain, from product collection and marketing to processing, access to funding, value-added creation from all parts of the coconut, and the promotion of a circular economy and zero-waste concept. This is to create price stability and sustainably increase income for Thai farmers.
Currently, the supply of fragrant coconuts floods the market at a rate of 2 million coconuts per day, making the original emergency purchasing measure of 10 million coconuts insufficient. Therefore, the Ministry of Commerce is promoting 'community coconut packing houses' as a key tool to enable communities to manage quality control and set fair prices themselves. The project is being expanded from Ratchaburi to Samut Songkhram, Samut Sakhon, and Nakhon Pathom, in collaboration with Kasetsart University to develop a master plan for a sustainable coconut packing house system.
Ms. Supajee stated that this community packing house will serve as a model reflecting the cooperation of farmers in collecting standardized produce. The government is ready to support the project with machinery such as peeling machines and conveyor belts to reduce costs. In addition, the Ministry of Commerce, in collaboration with the DSI and the police, inspected 24 factories to crack down on coconut water adulteration, which undermines pricing mechanisms and damages the confidence of trading partners. Beyond fresh produce sales, the Ministry of Commerce is also collaborating with the National Innovation Agency to promote the Zero Waste concept, processing coconut husks and shells into eco-friendly packaging and renewable energy, with funding support from state financial institutions.
Mr. Charan Charoensap, president of the Thai Aromatic Coconut Association, stated that community packing houses have been operating since April 1st. Initially, they focused on selling to modern trade outlets and Thailand Post, before expanding to export markets. Currently, there are plans to partner with standard factories in an OEM format to increase production capacity without investing in new factories, aiming to prevent prices from plummeting to 2-3 baht per coconut as in the past.