These include mung beans, soya beans and black matpe beans-the source of the famed Far Eastern beansprouts associated throughout the world with oriental cooking. The soya bean is processed into vegetable oil by domestic factories. Other crops grown for their oils inculde coconuts, peanuts, castor seeds and mint. Canned rambutan and longan have found ready markets overseas but by far the most important of the country's fruit exports is canned pineapple, of which Thailand is the world's leading exporter. In 1993 canned and processed food earned 42,605 million baht.
Flowers are also an important export item.
Thailand is one of the world's biggest suppliers of orchids. There are about 2,000 commercial growers, mostly in the Bangkok area. Major markets are Japan and European countries. In the past, beef production was a profitable farming sideline but in recent years growing demand brought about by the increase in population and urbanization and by a rising standard of living has led to specialization in livestock breeding and commercial stockfarming using scientific methods. It has also been shown that cattle thrive on coconut plantations if the space between the trees is planted with suitable grass.