Thailand seeks formation of cassava bloc

21 Jun 2018  2053 | World Travel News

A man stands near sacks of dried cassava in the outskirts of Phnom Penh. KT/Mai VireaK

Thailand wants to form a coalition with Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam, all cassava-producing nations, to guarantee a stable price for the commodity and avoid future price wars, according to an article published yesterday in the Bangkok Post.

The resulting bloc would be the largest cassava association in the world, responsible for 80 percent of the world’s output.

According to the Bangkok Post, Adul Chotinisakorn, director-general of Thailand’s Foreign Trade Department, said that Thailand will use the upcoming World Tapioca Conference as an opportunity to propose the Cassava block to its fellow Asean member states.

The World Tapioca Conference, scheduled for June 27-28 in Bangkok, aims to help exporters expand to new markets such as Turkey, India and New Zealand, in a bid to reduce their heavy reliance on China.

This year’s edition of the conference is expected to attract more than 1,000 international producers, exporters and importers of tapioca, as well as representatives from governmental and international agencies, from China, Asean, South Korea, Japan, India, Taiwan and the European Union. Overall industry prospects, global production and trade will be discussed.

Tapioca, a staple food for millions of people mostly in tropical countries, is a starch extracted from cassava root.

Hean Vanhan, director of Cambodia’s General Directorate of Agriculture, told Khmer Times that he has not been contacted by Thailand yet with regards to forming the speculated alliance, but said creating such an association would help stabilise prices of the commodity and improve the lives of farmers.

“It is a good idea and I will support it if Thailand proposes it,” he said.

Thailand is the world’s largest exporter of tapioca products, controlling more than 50 percent of the global market.

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