March 12, 2008

Thailand urged to improve domestic pig industry standards
 

Thailand's slaughterhouse standards must be improved to boost Thai pork reputation and to solve problems of inconsistent prices and supplies, according to Thai pork producer Betagro Group.

Most pigs are slaughtered at Thailand's 1,400 municipal slaughterhouses that lack proper facilities to store meat to prevent oversupply, according to Nopporn Vayuchote, executive vice president of Betagro Group.

Pig producers are also unable to control their supply chains as they do not have their own manufacturing plants and due to instability in the feed industry, which contributes to the declining pork price, said Kriengmas Punchai, senior vice president for Betagro's swine integration.

As such, Nopporn has requested the government to improve the standards of Thailand's hog industry, which has a less than positive sanitisation reputation internationally.

The government can help by providing subsidies or incentive packages to attract the private sector to invest into standard slaughterhouses that have cold storage, said Punchai.

"Having cold storage, manufacturers can store supplies when facing a surplus so they can delay supplies from entering the market," Nopporn said.

Nopporn cites the example of Thailand's chicken industry, which had invested in cold storage supply management years ago, and has achieved such success that complaints or disputes over prices are rare.

He added that an export-standard slaughterhouse with cold storage facilities would cost about THB300-400 million (US$9.5 - 12.6 million).

Meanwhile, Betagro Group is now looking out for available land in Chiangmai to set up a standard slaughterhouse, which would cost them THB350 million (US$11 million), which is in line with their ideal that Thailand's pork industry should be based on farms and slaughterhouses of high standard.