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11 Sep 2009

Agriculture

Bananas: A Fruit that Should Be Developed into an Industry (Business Brief No.2630)

คะแนนเฉลี่ย
In the National Banana Festival in honor of Her Majesty Queen Sirikit held on August 11-16, a vast exchange of academic knowledge and brainstorming vis-à-vis guidelines to develop the cultivation, processing and marketing of bananas took place, showing that bananas can be an important economic fruit for domestic consumption and export, and could create annual income to the country of at least THB300 million.
KASIKORN RESEARCH CENTER (KResearch) holds the view that Thailand has an opportunity to increase our export value of bananas and develop it into other value-added products such as snacks, banana starch, food seasonings and banana flavoring used in food. Creating better packaging would also be important to adding value. Aside from exporting bananas as a foodstuff, Thailand could also increase the value of bananas as consumer goods with skin care products, as well as banana fiber that can be woven into clothing fabric and ropes. Therefore, both state and private agencies should pay more attention toward encouraging and supporting banana cultivation for commercial purposes, and develop the banana product industry seriously for domestic and export markets.
At present, Thailand's major export markets for bananas are Japan and China, while interesting new markets include the USA. If bananas get constant support and development, Thai bananas and products would definitely be able to compete in the global market and become better known and more popular in foreign countries.

However, to export bananas and products into the global market, risks that Thailand must take into account include competition from the important rivals of Ecuador, the Philippines, harvest periods, precise shipment schedules, clean packaging and the stringent pre-export quality control. It is important that all related parties observe strict supervision in all steps ranging from cultivation, processing and each importing country's standards for imported goods, as these factors are vital to the success of Thai export goods.

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Agriculture