At a seminar yesterday entitled "EurepGap: opportunities and challenges for Thai enterprises" hosted by the Foreign Trade Department, panellists agreed that an improvement of agricultural standards would open opportunities for Thai exporters.

EurepGap is a private-sector body that sets voluntary standards for agricultural products around the globe. It combines good agricultural practices, integrated crop management and integrated pest management.

Most EU importers require products to pass EurepGap standards to ensure safety for consumers and workers, animal welfare and environmental protection.

Chuanpis Aroonrungsikul, deputy director of the Crop Research and Development Institute at Kasetsart University, said enterprises must improve their crop, harvest, production and logistics standards to meet EurepGap requirements.

Enterprises should increase their farm and production management to meet the standard so that agricultural products enjoy a higher market share in the EU and other markets, said Chuanpis.

So far, fewer than 20 Thai fruit and vegetable exporters have passed the EurepGap standard. The Foreign Trade Department reported that average annual sales of fruit and vegetables to the EU are worth Bt680 billion, accounting for less than 2 per cent of the EU's imports in this sector.

Chuanpis also suggested exporters and farmers urgently focus on raising standards to match EU requirements so as to maintain export competitiveness from rising rivals such as Vietnam.

Chusak Chuenprayoth, president of the Thai Fruit and Vegetable Producers Association, said although the cost of obtaining EurepGap certification was quite high, it would be worthwhile for the business in the long run as most EU importers require it.

The cost of certification is about Bt100,000 to Bt200,000 per farm. The membership fee for EurepGap is ¤150 (Bt7,000) per year.

Chusak, who is also president of vegetable exporter Kamphaeng-Saen Commercial, said the company's products were accepted by many leading retailers in the EU after passing EurepGap.

Its export value to the EU grew significantly from Bt100 million in 2002 to more than Bt500 million last year.

In the United States market, the US Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will allow six types of fresh-fruit imports from Thailand, effective July 23. Those include mangoes, mangosteens, pineapples, rambutan, lychees and longans.

Ministry spokesman Krisda Piampongsant said it would be a great start to penetrating the fresh-fruit market in the US, the major export market for Thailand.

The ministry reported that of the total export value of US$19.45 billion (Bt672 billion) last year, the country had never exported fresh fruit direct to the US. At present, the US accepts only frozen fruit from Thailand. It will be the first opportunity for Thailand to export fresh fruit and increase the export value to $20.6 billion this year.

The export value of fresh fruit was $1.8 billion last year. The ministry targets to increase the value to $2 billion this year.

Thailand is the first country among the tropical countries in Southeast Asia to get permission to export fresh fruit to the US after six years of attempts. The fruit must pass psytosanitary certification and must have been irradiated in Thailand.

Petchanet Pratruangkrai

The Nation