Thailand becomes world’s 3rd-largest chicken exporter

Illustrative photo (Photo: nationthailand.com)

Chaweewan Kampa, President of the Poultry Promotion Association of Thailand, said Thailand’s 2023 ranking was an improvement from 4th place in 2022.

According to Chaweewan, the Thai government had export promotion measures, and quick decisions to extend the import of soybean meal under a World Trade Organisation (WTO) deal for another year, which helped solve the problem of rising price and shortage of animal feed.

The deal under the WTO’s regulations allows the import of soybean meal at 2% tariff instead of the normal rate of 119%. It also allows import of corn for animal feed at 20% tariff instead of 70% for up to 54,700 tonnes.

However, she pointed out that Thailand was still at a disadvantage due to higher production cost compared to competitors.

Both Brazil and the US are one of the world’s biggest production bases of soybean and corn for animal feed, while Thailand is struggling to meet the domestic needs, she said.

She urged the hai government to consider expanding the term under the WTO deal, especially the import quota limit, to help chicken farmers reduce cost and make Thailand’s product more competitive in the global market.

Meanwhile, Sitthiphan Thanakiatpinyo, President of the Swine Raisers Association of Thailand, said that cost for animal feed is the biggest cost for farmers, and urged the government to prioritise this issue./.