Logistics Cost Structure for Mangosteen Farmers in Thailand

Mangosteen is a major Thai export produce which brings economic benefits to farmers. The objectives of this paper are to study the mangosteen supply chain in eastern Thailand and analyze the logistics cost structure for mangosteen farmers. The results show that the highest logistics cost consists of material handling such as post-harvest, grading, and handling, followed by transportation, procurement, customer communications, and inventory, respectively. In addition, we found that the logistics cost structure varies by the size of farms; also, the yield of mangosteens increases as the size of the farm increases. To reduce the logistics cost and increase the efficiency of logistics operations, mangosteen farmers should reduce non value-added activities and increase the utilization of resources during production, harvest, postharvest, grading, packing, storage and delivery. In addition, the integration of farmers and collaboration among farmers and collectors should be encouraged. © 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of Desheng Dash Wu