The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has affected the consumption behavior of people all around the world. Particularly, the COVID-19 detected on the food container has prompted consumers to take extra precautions when purchasing food products, prioritizing the hygiene and safety from the ingredient sources, the manufacturing practices as well as the shipping and delivery.
Following the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the compliance of COVID-19 Prevention Best Practice in food products for export signed by the 4 ministries of Thailand, namely, the Minister of Commerce, Minister of Public Health, Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives and Minister of Interior, the Department of International Trade Promotion (DITP) has launched "Thailand Deliver with Safety" campaign to assure consumers around the world that Thai food products are guaranteeing COVID-19 safety with this high standard of prevention practices in place. DITP also affirmed that there has been a surge in demand for Thai agricultural products, especially Thai fruits, in overseas market. The export value of fresh, chilled, frozen and dried fruit in 2020 stood at 128,337.07 million baht.
Mr. Somdet Susomboon, Director-General of the Department of International Trade Promotion, revealed that Thailand offers a vast variety of fruits throughout the year, with the remarkable quality internationally recognized for their unique characteristics and great taste. Also, Thailand has ceaselessly develop its manufacturing technologies in fruit and vegetable, adopting more advanced technologies than those of other competitors in the region. This has, thus, helped boost confidence among trade partners and consumers in Thailand's products in terms of safety and quality standards.
In addition, DITP has actively supported the development of manufacturing and quality control systems for Thai fruit manufacturers to be in conformity with internationally accepted standards in all procedures from producing, packaging and shipping. DITP also moves ahead to promote Thai fruit products in the premium fruit segment, highlighting their uniqueness in value, species and premium quality. Besides, the Thai government's proactive policy in regulating cultivators to meet the quality and demand of the market, distributing products, maximizing public relations efforts and stimulating domestic and overseas consumption, has attributed to a continuously high demand both domestically and internationally, resulting in the strong export value growth every year.
"DITP has always driven to push Thai fruits for export to the global market. Thai fruit products have marked high export value every year and is widely accepted at the global market. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Thailand's fruit exports continue to surge and earn consumers' trust in its safety. In 2020, fresh, chilled, frozen and dried fruit products from Thailand had an export volume of 2,138,698 tons, worth 128,337.07 million baht, soaring 13.45%, which consists of the following. 1) Fresh fruit totaled 1,645,505 tons in volume, 104,257.87 million baht in value, an increase of 15.44%. 2) Frozen fruit totaled 44,581 tons in volume, 8,063.05 million baht in value, an increase of 18.09 %, and 3) Dried fruit and other products totaled 448,612 tons volume, worth 16,016.14 million baht, or 0.23% decrease. Thailand's main export markets are China, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Japan and the United States, amounting to 90.03 percent of the total exports of fresh, chilled, frozen and dried fruits and vegetables in 2021," Mr. Somdet revealed.
The image of Thai fruits in "Thailand Deliver with Safety" campaign that DITP launched has assured buyers and trade partners around the world that Thai fruits follow COVID-19 Prevention Best Practice in food production for exports and meet international standards. These factors will ensure a leading and competitive position of Thailand in the world's fruit export.