Bangkok Post, Thursday, January 20, 2005
“Baby broccoli” hits market
Thai firm wins right to produce, export
PHUSADEE ARUNMAS

A Japanese company, Sakata Seed Corporation, has given a Thai firm the rights to exclusively produce and export a new hybrid vegetable called “baby broccoli”

A cross between kale and broccoli, the vegetable will be exported by Siam Future Farm Co, which has been growing baby broccoli for several years using seed provided by the Japanese firm.

Sakata’s experts spent over a decade developing the new hybrid, which features broccoli-shaped blossoms on kale-like stems. The Thai company, appointed as the company’s second foreign production base after Australia, has been granted the exclusive rights to produce and export the vegetable in Asia.
     
Marks&Spencer have been awarded the rights for distribution within the European Union, according to Sutaporn Ramyanandana, director and general manager of Siam Future Farm.

Mrs Sutaporn said the contract signed yesterday would allow her company to export baby broccoli to Singapore and Japan by end of the year.

Siam Future Farm expected export volume to increase by 50 tonnes this year, from 300 tonnes last year.

To assure a stable supply, the company plans to increase its plantation area in Mae Chan district, Chiang Rai, from 100 rai to 300 for growing baby broccoli.

Expansion plans for the farm also include a provision for contract farming, with the company supplying seeding and controlling planting methods to ensure hygienic standards are met.

The farm, certified by the Agricultural Department for Good Agricultural Practice in the North, is also a production hub for more than 20 kinds of temperate and tropical vegetables supplied to local markets such as beetroot, lettuce, purple eggplant, zucchini and cabbage.

While output of baby broccoli remains small, only 20% of the 300 tonnes of vegetables the company produces each year, she said that expansion would help increase export volume by 50% in the near future.

To support exports, the Thai company has invested 15 millions baht on equipment for size-classification, packaging and cold storage.

In the Thai market, the product is already available at leading supermarkets and hyper marts under the “Future Farm” brand.

Mrs Sutaporn said she was considering a plan to sell cooked vegetable products on the domestic market.

She was confident that the company’s vegetables, although priced as high as 100 baht a kilogramme would sell well due to their higher standard of hygiene and freshness than cheaper products from China.

Domestic growers claim that Chinese vegetables have flooded the Thai market as a result of a bilateral free trade area agreement which also covers fruits and vegetables.
 
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