The government is putting coconut on the state price control list as part of efforts to deal with the domestic coconut price slump.
Wichai Phochanakij, the Internal Trade Department's director-general, said the department is set to propose putting coconut and coconut products on the state price control list for approval by the vegetable oil and crop committee, which meets today.
Mr Wichai said after approval, the proposal will be forwarded to the central committee on prices of goods and services, chaired by Commerce Minister Sontirat Sontijirawong, and later for cabinet approval.
Once on the price control list, manufacturers have to secure prior approval from the Internal Trade Department before changing the size and price of their products.
Manufacturers are also required to inform officials details of the movement, letting authorities know the source of purchases.
The move is expected to help curb coconut smuggling. Violators are subject to five years in jail, a fine of up to 100,000 baht, or both.
The Commerce Ministry has 227 items under its supervision, mainly essential products and services including sensitive products that need daily monitoring such as packed rice, cooking oil, eggs, pork and powdered milk. Of the total, 205 are goods and 22 are services.
The price control list covers essential items for daily use, such as food, consumer goods, farm-related products, paper, petroleum and medicine.
There are 53 product items on the price control list, 133 items on the watch list, 10 items on the priority watch list, and others listed as sensitive.
In a move to end the domestic coconut price slump and help protect domestic growers, the Commerce Ministry recently threatened to blacklist 10 coconut importers who failed to provide clarity on their import data.
Officials suspect some importers abused their agreements and sold imported coconuts to local traders, for which the importers hired workers to remove the husks from coconut shells.
There are more than 80 coconut importers legally registered with the Foreign Trade Department that import coconut as raw materials for their factories.
In 2017, Thailand's imported coconuts totalled 416,124 tonnes worth 4.62 billion baht, 384,102 tonnes of which were from Indonesia, 15,613 tonnes from Vietnam, 2,864 tonnes from Myanmar and 13,524 tonnes from Malaysia.
Thailand is expected to produce 860,000 tonnes of coconuts this year, much lower than domestic demand, which is estimated at 1.1 million tonnes.
The country is expected to import 241,000 tonnes this year.