Thailand’s Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry has ordered a survey of fuel consumption in the agricultural sector as part of a plan to replace the fisheries department’s use of “purple diesel oil” with the B100 oil.
The ministry aims to encourage the use of B100 oil made of palm oil to replace diesel oil for all agricultural machineries soon, Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Yukol Limlaemthong said.
The purple diesel oil is provided by the government to fishing boats at a low price.
The ministry’s move is aimed at reducing palm oil inventory of more than 370,000 tonnes, with new supply expected when crude palm fruits come into the market during March-April.
He said that he is concerned about the high palm-oil inventory.
The minister said that the B100 oil had been successfully tested on agricultural machines. The diesel price is Bt30 per litre compared to the B100 price of Bt28 per litre.
Department of Agricultural Extension secretary-general Apichat Jongsakul said that policies and measures to support farmers had already been approved, with a budget of Bt1.3 billion for the Commerce Ministry’s Public Warehouse Organisation to purchase 10,000 tonnes of palm oil, up from the previous purchase of 50,000 tonnes. The measure is to prevent the price of oil palm from falling from the present Bt3.25 per kilogram, versus the production cost of Bt3.40 per kilogram.
The National Oil Palm Committee, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong, has already ordered the Commerce Ministry to seek ways to release palm oil from the inventory. This was in response to complaints of palm farmers about the falling oil-palm price.
Earlier, the Energy Ministry had a plan to produce B7 oil from palm oil but the plan was scrapped as auto-makers said that the B7 oil could damage the car engine.
2007 www.nationmultimedia.com Thailand