Agriculture and Cooperative Minister Chalermchai Sri-on has floated the idea of promoting Thai rubber to make sex toys and sell them on the global market, in a bid to raise the value of Thai rubber.
The minister made a Facebook post on Thursday saying he had decided to process and promote Thai rubber in the sex toy market to generate revenue in the country under the concept of "Sex Toy -- Made in Thailand".
"It's about sexual well-being. In 2021, the global sex toy market was estimated at 1.3 trillion baht!" he said.
The sex toy market has grown 300% in the past five years and is expected to reach 2 trillion baht in 2030.
He hoped the idea would boost the income of rubber farmers and result in the building of a Rubber Industrial Estate to systemise production processes, together with introducing economic tourism, increasing rubber exports and covering all types of rubber processing.