September 6, 2007

Thailand corn exports forecast to fall on higher domestic demand
 

Thailand's corn exports may fall to 400,000-500,000 tonnes in 2007 from 600,000 tonnes last year, said Boontham Aramsiriwat, purchasing manager of Lee Feedmill Public Company Ltd., at the fourth South-east Asia-US Agricultural Cooperators conference recently.

"Since local poultry demand is improving in Thailand, and bird flu concerns are receding, there are more local purchases of corn for feed milling and less available for export," he said.

He added that corn production in Thailand is expected to be unchanged on-year at 3.8 million tonnes in 2007.

Combined import volumes of soybean and soymeal may rise to 4 million tonnes in 2007, compared with 3.6 million tonnes in 2006, according to Aramsiriwat.

"Since corn prices are increasing, many feed millers are using tapioca instead of corn. They are likely to add soymeal to the tapioca-based feed to boost its protein content. Therefore, imports of soybean and soymeal may rise this year," he said.