July 20, 2004

 

 

Steers' Beef Has Potential In Thailand

 

The Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry has urged Thai farmers to try to meet the local appetite for high quality beef dishes, using steers' beef.

 

The local market currently needs about 26,000 steers a year, according to the ministry's officials.

 

However, the local capacity to produce high-quality beef falls far short of the actual demand.

 

Currently, there are only two co-operatives producing most of the steers' beef for the upper-end of the market, fine restaurants and department stores.

 

Their combined production capacity of 9, 000 animals a year meets around a third of the market demand.

 

The Director of the Cooperative Promotion Department, Boonmee Juntaravong, said that the government had planned to support the production of steers' beef to meet the need of the high-end market, and later for export.

 

Steers' beef comes from steers raised in an enclosed area, fed and fattened before they are slaughtered.

 

As a result, the meat is of a higher quality than that from beef cattle.

 

The steers' beef is a lucrative business. It costs around 80 baht per kilogram to produce and fetches as much as 300 baht a kilogram on the market.

 

Mr. Boonmee said beef cattle met the lower-end of the market, like fresh markets and small food vendors.

 

The profit margin for this type of meat is around 40 baht a kilogram.

 

There are currently 85 co-operatives with 320,000 cows in Thailand.