May 14, 2008

Strong domestic demand to cut Thailand's corn exports by half

The solid demand for corn from the feedstuff industry in Thailand is seen to dampen the exports this year, traders and officials said Tuesday.

Local traders said they expected corn exports to fall by more than 50 percent this year.

The price of Thailand corn jumped to THB9.60 (US$0.29) per kilogramme this week, or 90 percent higher than last year's THB5 (US$0.15), forcing exporters to stay on the sidelines, traders said.

One trader said that the high corn prices limit Thailand's capacity to compete with cheaper Indian corn.

So far in 2008, Thailand exported only 21,000 tonnes of corn against more than 90,000 tonnes in 2007.

Indian corn prices were at US$240 a tonne, around US$50 lower than Thailand prices.

May, Amit Sachdev, the India-based representative of the US Grain Council, said India may export around 2.1 million tonnes of corn.

Indian traders dumped corn onto the world market after the deadly bird flu was found, which slashed the domestic corn demand.