20/09/04 BANGKOK (Dow Jones)--The Thai government is working on ways tostop palm oil smuggling from Malaysia and to help Thai farmers who havebeen hurt by the smuggling, Commerce Minister Watana Muangsook said lateMonday.A government's committee will propose measures at a meeting scheduledin the next two weeks, he said.Crude palm oil smuggled from neighboring Malaysia is considerablycheaper than domestic supplies, encouraging local users to engage insmuggling, the minister said.Smuggled crude palm oil is priced around 18-19 baht ($1=THB41.280) akilogram, plus a transportation cost of around THB2/kg, while domesticcrude palm oil prices in the Thai market are THB27-THB28/kg, he said.Watana said he couldn't say how much crude palm oil is being smuggled.The smuggling of crude palm oil has been weighing on local prices forpalm fruit, which are currently around THB3.60-THB4.10/kg, down fromaround THB4.10-THB4.25/kg earlier in the month, he said.