Illustrative image (Source: internet)Bangkok (VNA) – The CommerceMinistry of Thailand plans to take measures to prevent cassava prices fromfalling sharply during the harvest season this year, when millions of tonnes ofcassava are expected to flood the market.
Thai Commerce Minister Apiradi Tantraporn saidmost of the new measures are aimed at creating networks that bring growers closerto industrial end-users. She also predicted that the falling cassava price thisyear is likely to be less serious than previous years, she added.
The ministry expects an output of 30 milliontonnes of cassava in the current 2017-18 crop, 7.6 percent less than theprevious crop. Of the total, 28.5 tonnes are tapioca products.
It has encouraged tapioca makers to forgelong-term purchasing agreements with ethanol producers to ensure raw materialsupplies.
The ministry has also set up a network of cassavagrowers, tapioca producers and feedstuff makers to create mutually supportivesupply chains while setting aside an additional budget to finance localenterprises that will process cassava into alternative food products withhigher value.
Thailand is theworld’s biggest cassava producer and exporter. The country shipped abroad 10.6million tonnes of tapioca products in 2016, down from 11.3 million tonnes in2015.-VNA
VNA
