BANGKOK, THAILAND — Soybean imports to Thailand in marketing year 2022-23 are expected to rebound to 3.9 million tonnes and increase to nearly 4 million tonnes in 2023-24, driven by a recovering economy and improved demand for poultry and swine feed, according to a Global Agricultural Information Network report from the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) of the US Department of Agriculture.

With about 72 million people, Thailand relies heavily on imported soybeans to meet domestic demand for vegetable oil, food, and animal feed as domestic soybean production is marginal. Soybean meal imports in 2022-23 and 2023-24 are expected to fluctuate after the surge in 2021-22, when full fat soybean supplies were tight. 

Soybeans may be processed through cooking and roasting to make full fat soybeans. Full fat soybeans usually are used in feed rations when the costs of full fat soybeans are less expensive than the combined costs of soybean meal and oil ingredients.

The Thai Feed Mill Association expects total feed demand to increase 5% and swine feed demand particularly to grow by 15% in 2023 as swine farmers become more optimistic and expand their production after the new African swine fever outbreak reduced the pig population substantially in 2022.

“Demand for soybean in the food industry is also expected to continue to grow in line with the economic recovery, driven by the increase in foreign tourists to the levels prior to the pandemic,” FAS Post Bangkok said. “Around 70% of soybeans are crushed for cooking oil.”

Soybean production is marginal at 50,000 to 60,000 tonnes as farmers have no incentive to expand soybean acreage due to unattractive returns compared to other field crops like corn and cassava. Also, the Thai government still bans the cultivation of all transgenic or biotech plants, including soybeans.

Palm oil production is expected to continue its upward trend to 3.4 million tonnes in 2022-23 and 3.5 million tonnes in 2023-24 due to continued increase in harvesting areas. Palm oil consumption is expected to rebound in 2022-23 and further increase in 2023-24, driven by the increase in mandatory blend rate of biodiesel.

The government began to increase the mandatory blend rates to 7% since October 2022 from a minimum blend rate of 5% during February to September 2022, when palm oil prices reached a record high.