Inside the coconut cartel: how Chinese money squeezes Thai farmers
With Chinese investors seizing the supply chain, Thai coconuts now fetch less than a piece of chewing gum, wiping out profits for growers
Hands knotted by a lifetime of hard work, Supon Haochareon says Thai farmers in his position do not get to retire.
Instead, the 81-year-old and his wife Lamduan, 74, must tend more than 300 trees in Samut Sakhon, an hour west of Bangkok, agonising each year as prices slump and their coconuts grow smaller in the withering heat.
This month brought the lowest prices on record: two baht (six US cents) per coconut – less than a stick of chewing gum – virtually wiping out all profit from their labours.
“Before the pandemic prices were 20 baht a coconut,” said Lamduan, referring to the nam hom, or aromatic variety they grow: the smaller, sweeter cousin of the green coconut and a premium product in China, where most Thai coconuts are sold.
“But we’ve watched the price go from 10 to five baht and now it’s two baht,” she said. “That’s not enough to buy fertiliser. But the lhong name the price and say we can take it or leave it.”
We’ve watched the price go from 10 to five baht and now it’s two baht
Lhong, a long-standing feature of Thai agricultural markets, are wholesalers who collect produce at farm gates and return with payment once harvest prices have been set at warehouse clearing centres based on quality, volume and customer orders.