25/05/2012 (Bangkok Post) - The Thai Oil and Palm Oil Association and farmer associations of Chumpon, Surat Thai, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Trang, Satun and Ranong accused the Commerce Ministry of distorting information on palm oil stockpiles.

The private sector claims incorrect reports
were submitted to the cabinet about the stock
levels by the ministry, which led to the approval
for the imports of 40,000 tonnes of crude palm oil.  

They also said the ministry lacked transparency on the imports of 10,000 tonnes of crude palm oil.

They called on the government to stop the imports and restructure the prices to be fair to all related parties.

Improvements to the industry management are also urged.

Wiwan Boonyaprateeprat, secretary-general of the Thai Oil and Palm Oil Association, yesterday submitted the petition to the National Palm Oil Committee chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong.

The statement says the import process of 10,000 tonnes of crude palm olein (CPO) by the Public Warehouse Organisation is murky, with no details on who the importers are or at what prices the PWO sold it to oil refineries.

The private sector also found incorrect reports were submitted to the cabinet about the stock levels by the ministry, which led to the approval for the imports of 40,000 tonnes of CPO.

The ministry said the stock fell to below the safety level of 200,000 tonnes at the end of March but the private sector found the data wrong and believed that the stock would rise to 250,000 tonnes by the end of this month.

The associations said the ministry did not respect the agreement of the committee barring the imports.

Commerce Minister Boonsong Teriyapirom later sought the cabinet approval for the imports.

They also claimed the ministry had not reported to the cabinet the collection of an export surcharge at 10 baht a kilogramme of CPO, a measure that will affect the industry and farmers.

Phongsak Assakul, chairman of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, also disagreed with the government's measure to slow the exports by imposing the levy.

In his view, the private sector should have the right to sell freely for better prices.

The problem about goods price should also be addressed by the market mechanisms.