Cabinet clash over contaminated durian exports leaves bitter taste

Commerce minister calls truce as China’s rejection of contaminated fruit shipment jeopardises multi billion-baht export trade

Commerce Minister Pichai Naripthaphan says that he and Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Narumon Pinyosinwat have reached an understanding after their heated argument over rejected durian exports during Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting.

During the session, Prime Minister’s secretary Prommin Lertsuridej noted China had rejected 64 tonnes of Thai durian after detecting contamination by Basic Yellow 2, a carcinogenic dye, last month. He called on the Commerce and Agriculture ministries to tighten testing of durian exports for contamination.



Pichai asked why the rejected durians had not been destroyed immediately, to which Narumon replied that procedures for the disposal of rejected products need to be followed.

This led to an argument, prompting Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra to ask Pichai and Narumon to discuss the issue on the sidelines and report the results to Cabinet later.

Asked on Wednesday about the argument, Pichai replied: “It was nothing. I was just concerned about exports, and the matter has been cleared up and discussed thoroughly.”

He added that he would meet durian farmers from Chanthaburi later on Wednesday to discuss export procedures.

The contaminated durian shipment also led to an investigation of Rapeepat Chansriwong, director-general of the Agriculture Department, following an allegation of bribe-taking in the testing for BY2.

Rapeepat was transferred to an inactive position last Friday, after durian exporters alleged that a company approved by Rapeepat demanded testing fees despite no official announcement on testing procedures by the department.

China is the biggest export market for Thai durian, valued at several billion baht per year.

(2025/03/19-00:00)