The Thai Agriculture Ministry has reached an agreement with durian exporters in Chanthaburi province to clean up their warehouses on Friday after an export container to China was found contaminated with Covid-19 virus.
Alongkorn Pollabutr, an adviser to the agriculture minister, said he has visited the warehouses of durian exporters in Chanthaburi and reached an agreement on carrying out a big cleaning day on Friday.
He said the exporters from now on would conduct rapid antigen tests on workers regularly to prevent more contamination of the coronavirus.
China suspended import of durians from Thailand at its checkpoint for three days from April 12 to 14 after a container of durians on a trailer truck from Thailand was found contaminated.
Alongkorn said although the Chinese authorities allowed the import of Thai durians to be resumed on April 15, the exporters of Thai fruits could not be complacent.
Alongkorn said the peak season of fruit in the eastern provinces would soon arrive with over a million tonnes of durian, rambutan, mangosteen and southern langsat ready for harvesting and export so the exporters must make sure that their fruit would be free from contamination.
The adviser said the export of durians from Chanthaburi would be resumed in the middle of next week using the Laos-China high-speed train so the Thai authorities and exporters must step up measures to prevent contamination of the fruit.
Alongkorn said the export by train has been successful after two containers of durians and one container of coconuts were dispatched early this month. The durians would be transported on trucks from Thailand to the railway station in Laos to be sent aboard the train.
This article was first published in Khmer Times. All contents and images are copyright to their respective owners and sources.
