Maize farmers fear effects from imported barley

[webfact]

Maize farmers fear effects from imported barley

By Thai PBS

 

 

Maize farmers in Chiang Mai have expressed grave concern that their produce will have no buyers after they learned that about 120,000 tonnes of barley have been imported into the country as animal feed.

 

It was reported that 13 animal feed plants, most of the affiliated with the CP Group, out of a total of 50 which are members of the Thai Animal Feed Producers Association, have stopped buying maize farmers in the past few months and have shifted to imported barley or wheat, claiming that their prices are comparatively cheaper than locally-produced maize.

 

The prize of maize in front of animal feed factories averages 10-10.25 baht per kilogramme compared to 7-8 baht per kg of barley or wheat.

 

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/maize-farmers-fear-effects-imported-barley/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2018-06-20

[Get Real]

13 minutes ago, webfact said:

Maize farmers in Chiang Mai have expressed grave concern that their produce will have no buyers after they learned that about 120,000 tonnes of barley have been imported into the country as animal feed.

They will not have to fear that. They as everyone else working and offering a service or product in any line of business, must be able to provide what they sell att a competative price. If they are willing to, and can, do that there is no need for any fear. In that case there is no need to import when the domestic market can provide, bu nobody want to pay a higher price for that.

If that is not possible to achieve, then I guess there is no market for producers of maize in Thailand.

[Damrongsak]

I'm thinking the barley and wheat come from areas with vast plains and highly mechanized farming.  In the USA, farmers talk in terms of how many "squares" they farm.  One square being a square mile or 1,581 Rai.  Even mom & pop farms are about 600 Rai.  Hard to beat economy of scale, mechanization and a micro climate perfectly suited to a particular crop.

 

There's a dairy farm in China with 100,000 cattle. 55 million Rai.

[Thian]

50 minutes ago, Get Real said:

They will not have to fear that. They as everyone else working and offering a service or product in any line of business, must be able to provide what they sell att a competative price. If they are willing to, and can, do that there is no need for any fear. In that case there is no need to import when the domestic market can provide, bu nobody want to pay a higher price for that.

If that is not possible to achieve, then I guess there is no market for producers of maize in Thailand.

In Thailand they can't be competitive. 

 

In W-Europe i see banana's in the supermarkets, 4-5 big ones for 1 euro=37 baht. Costs the same or more in BKK.

[Get Real]

1 minute ago, Thian said:

In Thailand they can't be competitive. 

 

In W-Europe i see banana's in the supermarkets, 4-5 big ones for 1 euro=37 baht. Costs the same or more in BKK.

And what did you mean buy that? What I meant was that they have to keep an internationally regulated price. That goes for both Thailand and the rest of all nations in the world.

[tracker1]

Where can one buy wheat ? preferably in Chiang Rai

[SoilSpoil]

Good news. Now farmers won't have to burn their field to grow animal feed.

[mikebell]

1 hour ago, Get Real said:

And what did you mean buy that? What I meant was that they have to keep an internationally regulated price. That goes for both Thailand and the rest of all nations in the world.

Prices in Thailand are set by influential family cartels: how else do you explain roll-on deodorants costing twice the UK price; cost of paint; spectacles;- please feel free to add to this list.....

[SOTIRIOS]

...true to its reputation .....

 

...the word 'ruthlessness' comes to mind....

[seajae]

thai farmers have to learn to accept that they can not simply demand a set price for anything they grow, they have to compete with the rest of the world. They refuse to modernize/change the way they do farming as "its the way we have always done it", the only way they can improve now is to start to modernize and reduce costs etc so they can compete. I find most thais are very money thrifty, they will look for the best prices before they buy but the farmers are whinging when it happens to them, why pay twice the price for animal feed locally when you can import it for half that, the farmers are learning that they no longer get to demand anything, maybe now they will realize they cannot just keep on doing it as they always have, will be interesting to see if they go forward with their thinking

[impulse]

2 hours ago, Damrongsak said:

I'm thinking the barley and wheat come from areas with vast plains and highly mechanized farming.  In the USA, farmers talk in terms of how many "squares" they farm.  One square being a square mile or 1,581 Rai.  Even mom & pop farms are about 600 Rai.  Hard to beat economy of scale, mechanization and a micro climate perfectly suited to a particular crop.

 

There's a dairy farm in China with 100,000 cattle. 55 million Rai.

 

And don't forget all the subsidies paid to US farmers, along with not having to pay for water they fritter away (other than the cost of lifting it from the aquifer).

 

In a fair world, Thailand would be imposing huge Anti-Dumping and Countervailing Duties on many US agricultural imports.  Like our neighbor to the north.  And the US would heavily tax the export of water in the form of ag products that require tons of water to grow a bushel.

 

Edited June 20, 2018 by impulse

[Get Real]

58 minutes ago, mikebell said:

Prices in Thailand are set by influential family cartels: how else do you explain roll-on deodorants costing twice the UK price; cost of paint; spectacles;- please feel free to add to this list.....

Nah, I can definately not try to explain that. Out of your start here, you seem to be an expert on the subject, though. Would you like to enligthen me in this specific area of knowledge. Holding my breath and waiting for the report.

[Thian]

2 hours ago, Get Real said:

And what did you mean buy that? What I meant was that they have to keep an internationally regulated price. That goes for both Thailand and the rest of all nations in the world.

Well how is it possible that in Germany the banana's cost the same as in BKK? FYI, they had to be imported from South America and are still cheaper then grown in Thailand and sold in Thailand.

[Get Real]

32 minutes ago, Thian said:

Well how is it possible that in Germany the banana's cost the same as in BKK? FYI, they had to be imported from South America and are still cheaper then grown in Thailand and sold in Thailand.

Because there is a difference in domestic and imported products. For a product to be imported it must fit the price range of the country´s domestic products, if available, or the price range of other countries that offer the same products. Domestic products or the competition is the two factors that defines the price of an imported product.

With the exception of products in demand such as oil, minerals and biogas or electricity as some examples.

Edited June 20, 2018 by Get Real

[CLW]

Well how is it possible that in Germany the banana's cost the same as in BKK? FYI, they had to be imported from South America and are still cheaper then grown in Thailand and sold in Thailand.

I know about that banana price but you didn't pick a good example.
The bananas in the supermarket are a bait offer and subsidised by the supermarket.
It doesn't reflect the real cost.
You can find lots of articles about that on the Internet.
Also bananas have to advantage to be harvested green and shipped by container to overseas.
You can't do this with so many fruits without losing quality.
And still since I'm here I don't want to eat the standardised EU banana anymore.
Even for free.
I'll stick to my tasty finger banana from Thailand.

[CLW]

The wheat and barley is overproduction and result of the EU agriculture policy.
They have already successfully destroyed wheat and chicken mear markets and growers in Africa.
Same happened to milk but it's difficult to export milk rather as milk powder.
I don't know about USA agriculture policies.

[kickstart]

5 hours ago, Get Real said:

They will not have to fear that. They as everyone else working and offering a service or product in any line of business, must be able to provide what they sell att a competative price. If they are willing to, and can, do that there is no need for any fear. In that case there is no need to import when the domestic market can provide, bu nobody want to pay a higher price for that.

If that is not possible to achieve, then I guess there is no market for producers of maize in Thailand.

7

I do think you know how much a Thai farmer gets for his crop, well last year it was about 6-7 baht /kg , which is does not leave a lot of profit margins.

The seed and fertilizer is produced in Thailand, CP even grows corn for seed, all the machinery is produced here in Thailand (but plough discs are imported), so Thailand is trying to be competitive, but as has been said, you can not compete with the western  plains farmers. 

[kickstart]

3 hours ago, mikebell said:

Prices in Thailand are set by influential family cartels: how else do you explain roll-on deodorants costing twice the UK price; cost of paint; spectacles;- please feel free to add to this list.....

,Thailand classes these goods as luxury goods  ,so 100% import tax .hence twice the cost .

[SABloke]

8 minutes ago, kickstart said:

,Thailand classes these goods as luxury goods  ,so 100% import tax .hence twice the cost .

Actually, Thailand classifies "deodorants" as "deodorants" and the import tariff is 20% (0% from ASEAN, India, Australia, New Zealand) ?

[CLW]

Actually, Thailand classifies "deodorants" as "deodorants" and the import tariff is 20% (0% from ASEAN, India, Australia, New Zealand) [emoji850]

And most of them are produced domestically.

[Thian]

37 minutes ago, CLW said:

I know about that banana price but you didn't pick a good example.
The bananas in the supermarket are a bait offer and subsidised by the supermarket.
It doesn't reflect the real cost.
You can find lots of articles about that on the Internet.
Also bananas have to advantage to be harvested green and shipped by container to overseas.
You can't do this with so many fruits without losing quality.
And still since I'm here I don't want to eat the standardised EU banana anymore.
Even for free.
I'll stick to my tasty finger banana from Thailand.

Well then i look at the mango's in W-europe which come from Spain. On the market i buy 1 huge red/green mango for 1 euro..those are almost 1 kg each.

That;s also cheaper than in thai markets and not subsidised i guess.

[kickstart]

32 minutes ago, kickstart said:

I do think you know how much a Thai farmer gets for his crop, well last year it was about 6-7 baht /kg , which is does not leave a lot of profit margins.

The seed and fertilizer is produced in Thailand, CP even grows corn for seed, all the machinery is produced here in Thailand (but plough discs are imported), so Thailand is trying to be competitive, but as has been said, you can not compete with the western  plains farmers. 

And, as CLW said, all the subsidies from the EU, most former eastern block farmers would struggle without EU subsidies.

If they were no subsidies imported corn into Thailand would not be competitive.

 

But, Thailand has been importing corn for a lot of years, near me Betagrow has a large feed mill, makes all types of livestock feed (plus dog food), they are very often queues of trucks, that have come up from the port, with imported maize. a lot of the time Thailand cannot produce enough corn for its own market. 

And now farmers are growing more cassava and sugar cane, which gets fermented into alcohol, for gasohol fuel , the problem will only get worse.

 

[CLW]

Well then i look at the mango's in W-europe which come from Spain. On the market i buy 1 huge red/green mango for 1 euro..those are almost 1 kg each.
That;s also cheaper than in thai markets and not subsidised i guess.

That is correct about the Spain mangoes.
But how about when mango is in season in Thailand?
I think then the price is about 40 Baht per KG or lower.
And still then I would prefer a Thai mango though.

[CLW]

Thailand should focus on it's agricultural specialities and strengths not on producing corn for feed in slash+burn cultivation on erosion sensitive highlands.

Thailand praises so much it's rice and fruit production.
Still the productivity level is behind other Asian countries.
I can't recall the exact numbers but I know that the rice yield per area in Thailand is far behind Vietnam for example.
Another well-known product from Thailand is yellow mango.
Still the majority of mangoes in Europe comes from Spain and South America.
Some yellow mangoes from India.
But I haven't seen Thai products.

[Thian]

12 minutes ago, CLW said:

That is correct about the Spain mangoes.
But how about when mango is in season in Thailand?
I think then the price is about 40 Baht per KG or lower.
And still then I would prefer a Thai mango though.

Yes in season you can find namdocmai 40 a kg but how can you explain the same retailprices? Those Spanish mango's had to be transported 2-3000 km, Spain has higher wages and more rules, they were transported in a safe good truck with dieselfilters and all, packed well for transport, sold on a real marketbooth on a clean European market..(it all costs extra)...

 

So Thailand is not competitive at all imo..And that will break them up again and again...Thailand has to go for large scale but they can't organise/fund it.

[Vacuum]

2 hours ago, Thian said:

Well then i look at the mango's in W-europe which come from Spain. On the market i buy 1 huge red/green mango for 1 euro..those are almost 1 kg each.

That;s also cheaper than in thai markets and not subsidised i guess.

Last time I bought from the local Thai market it was 15 baht/kg.

[DrTuner]

Malt it and make beer.

[Thian]

9 minutes ago, Vacuum said:

Last time I bought from the local Thai market it was 15 baht/kg.

Not namdocmai's i guess....and sure not in BKK. If you see namdocmai for 15 a kg in BKK there's something wrong with them....

[Vacuum]

7 minutes ago, Thian said:

Not namdocmai's i guess....and sure not in BKK. If you see namdocmai for 15 a kg in BKK there's something wrong with them....

No not Namdocmai (and not BKK), but they are also locally available for around 20-25 baht.

[EdyP]

The world over Maize is always more expensive than wheat and barley as is has a higher energy and protein content . So comparitavly its a similar price . I suspect the price will drop a bit and they will be able to sell