September 8, 2008

Thailand to buy more soy, meal imports to drop 20 percent

Thailand's soy imports are forecasted to grow almost 6 percent and soymeal imports are likely to drop around 20 percent this year.

Sethasan Sethakarun, president of the Soy Oil Processors Association of Thailand commented that Thai soy imports were expected to reach 1.65 million tonnes this year.

Thailand's soymeal imports would fall 18 to 20 percent from 1.9 million tonnes bought in 2007.

Thai meal consumption has registered a drop of 10 percent in the first 8 months of this year and the trend will continue, Sethakarun said. The Southeast Asian country consumed 2.9 million tonnes of soymeal in 2007.

Thailand is likely to buy 70 percent of its soy from Brazil this year and the rest from the US. Last year, the ratio was 35 percent US beans, 15 percent Argentine and the balance Brazilian.

Meanwhile, US soy stood at US$12.10 per bushel in Asian trade on Friday, or nearly 27 percent off their July peak of US$16.58, reaching a nearly 3-week low as rains moved through some of the driest areas of the US Midwest, giving a boost to late-developing crops.