Thailand is world’s 3rd-largest chicken exporter, generates THB100 bn revenue

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

She praised the government’s export promotion measures, as well as its quick decision 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.

Chaweewan, however, 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.

The association president urged the 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 animal feed is the biggest cost for farmers, and urged the government to prioritise this issue.

“Many of the current taxes and limitations on animal feed import should be further lowered, such as the 2% tax on soybean meal, 9% tax on DDGS [dried distillers grains with solubles], 15% tax on fishmeal, and a limit on wheat import at one-third of domestic corn production,” he said.