The Agriculture Ministry will try to negotiate with Indonesia for the lifting of a new ban on fruit from Thailand, and durian in particular, Agriculture Minister Yukol Limleamthong said.
The Indonesian government recently moved to protect local fruit growers and announced a ban on imports of several fruits from Thailand, including durian.
Indonesia is normally a large market for Thai durian, with approximately 600 million baht of the pungent fruit shipped to Indonesia each year.
The ban will hit Thai durian growers hard, especially because the ministry projects the durian harvest in 2013 will be 529,500 tonnes, up by 1.12% from 2012.
The ministry also has plans for a durian harvest season in May and June with the aim of exporting the fruit to countries such as Vietnam and China, in the event Thailand cannot get approval to resume exports to Indonesia, the minister said.
Longan is another fruit facing import restrictions from Indonesia, with new quotas being set.
Fruit exporters are urging the government to solve their problems.