Thailand boosts bio-diesel fuel

Thailand boosts bio-diesel fuel

BANGKOK: The Thai government plans to plant about two million acres (800,000 hectares) of palm trees in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia to produce the raw material for bio-diesel for local automotive consumption by the year 2008, a senior official said on Saturday.

The palm trees will be grown on four million rai (640,000 hectares) of land in Thailand and another one million rai in Laos and Cambodia, Chakarn Saengruksawong, director-general of the Department of Agriculture told state-run Thai News Agency.

The palm oil produced will be used as raw material to produce bio-diesel fuel, to provide an alternative to imported diesel.

The Thai government on Wednesday finally floated domestic diesel prices after subsidizing them for years. More than 60 percent of all vehicles on the Thai market are one-ton pickup trucks with diesel engines. -- DPA