Thailand's commerce ministry has approved a proposal to increase the quota for import of corn and other crops to make animal feeds for three months to tackle shortages, commerce minister Jurin Laksanawisit said on May 2.
Jurin was speaking to reporters after chairing a meeting of the corn policy and management committee and the food policy committee at the Kitiyakara Voralaksana Hall in the Commerce Permanent Secretariat Building.
Representatives from the Internal Trade Department, the National Farmers Council, the Crops Growers and Traders Association, the Thai Feed Mill Association, the Thai Tapioca Trade Association and the hen farmers’ association attended the meeting.
Jurin said the meeting was held to approve a joint proposal made during a meeting of representatives from five sides recently. The five sides are: representatives of the commerce and finance ministries, representatives of corn and tapioca farmers, the Crops Growers and Traders Association, the hen, chicken, and pig farmers’ associations and the Thai Feed Mill Association.
The meeting agreed with the proposal of the five sides to allow more imports of corn and other crops for making enough feeds for hen, chicken and pig farmers, Jurin said.
The meeting recommended animal feed-makers to import raw materials from neighbouring countries, especially Myanmar, during the next three months.
Jurin said the commerce ministry would hold an online business matching activity for Thai importers to match sellers in Myanmar on May 3.
The meeting also approved three other measures – first, the requirement for importers of wheat to buy corn in the country in the ratio of 1:3 will be suspended from now until July 31.
Second, the import quota of corn will be increased from 54,700 tonnes to 600,000 tones from now until July 31 and the import tariff on corn will be reduced from 20 per cent to zero during the period.
Third, the commerce ministry will help hold online business matching for importers of raw materials for making animal feeds.
The quotas of all raw materials during the period will be increased to 1.2 million tonnes during the period, Jurin added.
THE NATION (THAILAND)/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
