Soybean meal import tariff exemption may be extended
The Commerce Ministry is considering extending its tariff cut on imported soybean meal for another six months to help reduce the cost of feed-meal production amid the rising prices of cereal grains in the global market.
Vatchari Vimooktayon, director-general of the Internal Trade Department, said the ministry would continue to waive import tariffs on soybean meal amid worries that the higher cost of raw materials could have a chain effect on the prices of feed meal and meat.
So far, the tariff for soybean meal import has been set at 2 per cent.
Pornsilp Patcharintanakul, president of the Thai Feed Mill Association, said the government should urgently waive import tariffs for soybean meal as the cost of feed-meal production had increased greatly in the past few months because of the drought in the United States.
He pointed out that the cost of feed-meal production had increased continuously. For instance, the price of maize is up from Bt9.50-Bt10 per kilogram last year to Bt11-Bt12 now. The soybean price has risen from Bt15 per kilo to Bt20 currently.
Pornsilp expects the price of feed meal to continue to rise because of the prolonged US drought.
He said soybean meal accounted for 50 per cent of the total production cost of feed meal. If the government does not eliminate the import tariff on soybean meal, the price of feed meal will have to be increased, and that would affect the cost of production for livestock farmers and, consequently, food prices.
Pornsilp called for the government to scrap the import tariff on soybean meal permanently, as Thailand cannot produce enough soybean and soybean meal to support feed-meal production.
