August 31, 2012

As it seeks to replace pricey rice in animal rations, Thailand is likely to import 1.5 million tonnes of feed wheat this year, a five-fold increase from 2011.

In a recent deal, Thai mills bought 40,000 tonnes of Indian feed wheat at US$321 a tonne, including cost and freight, for shipment in September.

"We have already bought one million tonnes of feed wheat in the first half of the year," Boontham Aramsiriwat, secretary general of the Thai Feed Mill Association, told reporters at a grains conference in Thailand.

"Last year, we were using wheat mainly for feeding the fish, but this year, it has picked up for animal feed as well," he added.

The Southeast Asian nation was buying feed wheat from Australia in the first half of the year and supplies are now coming from India and Pakistan, he said.

US exporters and Asian buyers came together at the ninth Southeast Asia-US Agricultural Cooperators Conference in Phuket, organised by lobby groups the American Soybean Association International Marketing, the US Grains Council and the US Wheat Associates.

Although Thailand is sitting on a record stockpile of rice, higher prices have prompted domestic feed mills to reduce their use of the grain, the official said.

"Feed mills were earlier using around one million tonnes of broken rice for pig feed," he said. "But now it is not so much, maybe around 200,000-300,000 tonnes."

Thailand's position as the world's biggest rice exporter is under threat following a disastrous government intervention scheme that drove up prices and drove down exports 45% so far this year, compared to the corresponding period a year ago.

The country's corn output, at around 4.5 million tonnes, is also falling short of domestic needs, forcing feed makers to use more wheat.