Sending Thailand’s food to China: Opinion

[webfact]

CHINA BUSINESS WEEKLY
Sending Thailand’s food to China
Suwatchai Songwanich
Chief executive Officer,
Bangkok Bank (China)

Our food industry provides us with a unique advantage. We are the only country in Asia that is a net exporter of foodstuff. The food industry contributes about 10 per cent of our GDP. However, despite our strong position, there is still a great deal of potential. China, with its huge market of more than a billion people, lies right on our doorstep. Since it is also one of the biggest food producers in the world, we also have synergies.

Our food industry owes a lot to our warm climate, fertile soil and abundant natural resources. However, this is by no means the whole story. Our success is also very much due to agricultural research, the cultivation of skills and the sharing of knowledge, and the development of infrastructure that supports the agricultural sector.

It is encouraging that the food industry was picked as one of the 10 high-priority clusters targeted by the government for support and development. One particularly exciting initiative is the development of a Food Innopolis - an innovation park for the food industry, located north of Bangkok, which is due to open early next year.

Manufacturers from around the world investing in the park will be awarded special privileges and supported by an R&D centre that coordinates with thousands of researchers from universities across the country.

This kind of initiative will help the industry maintain its competitive edge through the development of world-class product and hygiene standards, associated industries such as nutraceuticals and sophisticated brand development and packaging.

China, with its advanced technology and well-established food industry, has a lot to contribute in this area. Already there is growing interest from Chinese companies in investing in Thailand's food industry.

While China's population of 1.3 billion will ensure a large and healthy appetite for Thai foods, especially as incomes grow, it is important to remember that China is made up of many different markets with different tastes, cultures, infrastructure and regulations.

The region that is probably of most interest to Thai food exporters is Yunnan, which has a high level of economic development and strong cultural links to Thailand and Asean.

Yunnan has its own thriving agricultural sector and the fruits and vegetables produced in its temperate climate can complement those produced in different parts of Thailand such as longan, mangosteen and durian.

While fresh fruits and vegetables from Thailand are already gaining a strong following in Yunnan, the market for Thai processed foods is still untapped. There is plenty of room for growth as more people move to urban centres.

Since the Kunming-Bangkok Highway was completed two years ago, there has been a sharp increase in shipments of Thai produce to Yunnan. The development of the new railway linking China, Laos and Thailand will bring fresh opportunities. I hope Thailand's food producers will take advantage of these convenient new transport routes.

The government aims to transform Thailand into Asia's largest food-oriented trade and distribution centre. While this may seem ambitious, Thailand's existing advantages plus the many initiatives underway suggest strongly that this should be achievable.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/Sending-Thailands-food-to-China-30275312.html


-- The Nation 2015-12-21

[Plutojames88]

Communists may well be in future not just an option but the only market you can bank on

[SoilSpoil]

How about sending Thailand's food to Bangkok instead. Hard to find affordable whole foods in the supermarkets here.

[HiSoLowSoNoSo]

After the last weeks news from Thailand, China maybe is the only country that will buy their food in the future.

[Thian]

Can one of those thousands researchers teach the Thai when to pick avocado's?

I bought them again in Tips supermarket and they are inedible.

[toybits]

This is great! Absoluteky nothing mentioned about slaves used to process food exported to other countries. China obviously doesn't care either.

[jaltsc]

What did they expect when they got rid of a good percentage of the peasant farmers during the cultural revolution? Then they tried to make Cambodia their personal farmland and had the Khmer Rouge do their dirty work for them. China is not communist. They are a totalitarian regime that claims to be communist to make themselves sound humanitarian. Communism is where the wealth of capitalism is distributed among the entire population. China never had, nor does it have today, enough food or other goods, let alone wealth, to distribute among its population.

Let them eat their freakin' computers.

Edited December 21, 2015 by jaltsc

[phoenixdoglover]

A puff piece by the CEO of Bangkok Bank (China branch). Somebody must be calling in favors.

Edited December 21, 2015 by phoenixdoglover

[AyG]

Our food industry owes a lot to our warm climate, fertile soil and abundant natural resources.

Yet a regular shortage of water and atrocious water management.

And incredible unequal land ownership meaning that the actual farmers benefit little from the food they produce.

And rapacious rice millers and supermarkets meaning that many farmers live in abject poverty, despite their efforts.

[Ricardo]

"China, with its advanced technology and well-established food industry, has a lot to contribute in this area. Already there is growing interest from Chinese companies in investing in Thailand's food industry."

Yay, plastic-adulterated baby-food and fake-eggs coming soon, to a retail-outlet near you !

And Thailand will pay for the new freight-railway, along which it will be shipped, what a deal ... for China !

[user82374298374]

The purpose of this article is to signal that there's nothing to worry about with regards to slavery in the fishing and seafood processing industries - China will take it all and not bat an eyelash.

[stickylies]

The future looks bright. Happiness to the people! LOS the last paradise on earth.

[oneday]

"...Our success is also very much due to agricultural research, the cultivation of skills and the sharing of knowledge, and the development of infrastructure that supports the agricultural sector..."

555...too bad the farmers don't know about all this great stuff.

[timber]

Thailand future is and always has been with China and Japan. Always surprised that no one at the upper levels in Thailand has ever understood this.

When the Chinese economy rises, one of the first expenditures is on food. China has had problems with water for agriculture for some time now, and

Thailand is currently having problems, just not as serious, There are large areas that don't really have problems. China and Japan are locked in

markets and as long as Thailand doesn't screw up politically, the markets are a lot more stable than the west. I am not close enough to the problems

with research, marketing and community agricultural assistance to the agricultural community that Thailand, has if any, but I am sure Thailand could

easily double the sales to China and Japan for Agricultural products. If Thailand had a coordinated agricultural industry I am sure they could easily sell

everything they produce.

[jaywalker]

Send them all that rotten rice.

The Chinese will eat ANYTHING!

[FangFerang]

Amazingly vacuous piece that says: "The Chinese don't care if we use slave labor," and "our farms are high tech masterpieces of engineering," and " we, as always, know best," and "let's all pat ourselves on the backs (again) just because we're Thai."

Verbal vomit.

[Prbkk]

Can one of those thousands researchers teach the Thai when to pick avocado's?

I bought them again in Tips supermarket and they are inedible.

That reflects in part the poor choice of variety for planting in Thailand. The larger, almost round variety is not flavoursome to the same extent as the more pear-shaped ones common in other countries. They are cheaper but who wants to eat something vaguely tasting of soap?

It's a pity because many parts of Thailand have appropriate conditions for avocado growing and would have the potential to develop as an export product. Perhaps the 10 year wait to harvest from planting is a disincentive

[Srikcir]

There is a potential drawback when a nation becomes another nation's primary customer.

The customer begins to dictate terms of purchase. Invariably price drops follow as well as decrease in profits. And should the customer nation suffer an economic reversal that reduces its purchasing power and/or demand, the supplier has no alternative trade partners for sufficiency of economy.

Thailand should not lose sight of customer diversification.

[chainarong]

Something here to work on , one hopes there is more progress than the railway and new properly planned water projects, so that you have water so you can grow crops and rail your produce....................

[GOLDBUGGY]

Communists may well be in future not just an option but the only market you can bank on

Besides North Korea it is difficult to tell these days what Communists Countries there are left. Russia broke away from this a long time ago. You could not buy a Banana there as they didn't grow it there. China followed the same path as Russia but years later. Cuba looks like the next one to follow. Vietnam has opened to tourism to, and many rule are relaxed there now.

The big gains from China won't come from selling them raw material. For example Thailand sells most of its rubber production to China now, so they can make Tires. Wouldn't it make more sense to have China set up a big Tire Manufacturing Plant here, reducing the cost of rubber shipments, and then selling the Tires from Thailand. Creating many new higher paying jobs along the way.

But in order for that to happen Thailand needs to be more Foreign Business Friendlier. Not every Foreign Investor here wants to buy a bar so he can lose money on that. It is true that Thailand does quite well with Japan. But it is also true that Chinese Labor is still far cheaper than Thailand. But I also think Thailand also has the technical edge and a general higher educated work force. It is also always cheaper to manufacture a product when it is closer to the supplier.