Inside the coconut cartel: how Chinese money squeezes Thai farmers

AI Summary

Thai coconut farmers are being squeezed by Chinese-linked market manipulation, with prices hitting record lows of two baht (six US cents) per coconut in Samut Sakhon province. An 81-year-old farmer describes the desperate situation facing aging Thai growers as Chinese money allegedly controls the coconut supply chain, suppressing farm-gate prices while demand for Thai coconuts in China remains high. The situation highlights commodity market distortions driven by foreign capital concentration in agricultural supply chains.

Hands knotted by a lifetime of hard work, Supon Haochareon says Thai farmers in his position do not get to retire. Instead, the 81-year-old and his wife Lamduan, 74, must tend more than 300 trees in Samut Sakhon, an hour west of Bangkok, agonising each year as prices slump and their coconuts grow smaller in the withering heat. This month brought the lowest prices on record: two baht (six US cents) per coconut – less than a stick of chewing gum – virtually wiping out all profit from their...