—Lancaster Farming. Saturday, August 24, 1974
22
One of the world’s
foremost rice exporters,
Thailand is fast gaining
status in production and
trade of yet another grain
com-in the process enlarging
its foothold in the growing
feedgrain markets of Japan,
the Republic of China
(Taiwan), and other Far
Eastern nations.
Although a young industry
compared to the age-old rice
culture, corn production
already has assumed an
important role in Thailand’s
economy. It is, for instance,
agriculture’s third largest
foreign exchange earner
behind rice and rubber. And
some sources believe that
with improved production
methods com could even
tually edge out rice for the -
top position.
Seeming to support this
challenge, Thai corn
production in the last two
decades has only once fallen
off the rising trend that has
increased production more
than 20 fold to over 2.3
million metric tons in 1973
and 3 million estimated for
1974. And Thai Development
Plan goals see this reaching
3.5 million by 1976.
Although common
throughout Thailand, com
production is concentrated in
the nine Provinces to the
north and east of the Central
Plain rice bowl. And three
Provinces-Nakhon Sawan,
Lopburi, and Sarabun--
account for more than half of
total production.
The crop has been grown
here for many years, but
only since the 1950’s has it
been produced com
mercially as gram. Im
portation of the deep-orange
flint “Guatemala” corn
facilitated this development,
and by 1959 farmers were
rapidly clearing timber
areas so they could plant the
new feedgrain.
These efforts were tran
slated into snowballing
production growth. From
just a little over 100,000
metric tons in 1955 and 1956,
production soared past a
million tons by 1965 and 2
million by 1971, as acreage
expansion continued
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Thailand Is Rapidly Emerging
As Com Belt of the Far Blast
unabated.
Growth was encouraged
by the crop’s easy adap
tation to Thailand’s tropical
climate, although being
raingrown com remained
subject to shortfalls in times
of inadequate precipitation.
The vulnerability showed up
in 1972, when drought
reduced output to 1.3 million
metric tons from 2.2 million
the year before, for the only
interruption of corn’s 20-year
up-tend.
The 1972 shortfall also set
off a scramble in 1973 for
supplies among markets in
the Far East-boosting U. S.
sales in the process, but also
underlined Thailand’s im
portance today to com trade
in that part of the world.
Com first became one of
the country’s major exports
in 1960, when its production
passed 540,000 metric tons
and exports reached 500,000
Today, such shipments total
around 1.8 million tons-or
roughly 80 percent of total
com production-and have
catapulted Thailand into the
top ranks of work dcom
trade; the country is usually
the fourth or fifth largest
exporter, although its 3-4
percent of the world market
is still dwarfed by the United
States 50-60 percent share.
Forcing exchange ear
nings from this trade
amounted to the equivalent
of $140.8 million in 1973-
because of last year’s high
prices and alltime record,
despite a sharp contraction
in volume that year.
Japan and Taiwan have
traditionally been the main
customers for Thai com and
-through bilateral
agreements guaranteeing
markets-have given major
encouragement to expansion
in Thailand’s corn
production
The bilateral com trade
agreement with Japan is by
far the most important ever
concluded by Thailand and
has the longest history.
Begun in the 1966-67 crop
year, it is renewed each
year, with terms including:
A specific formulation by
which monthly export
prices the total volume of
com to be shipped to Japan
for the year; and a general
agreement on the monthly
pattern of these exports.
This agreement--
concluded as part of Japan’s
efforts to diversify trade and
generally encourage Asian
development-has reserved
for Japan the major part of
Thailand’s com exports. By
1972, such shipments had
reached around 1 million
metric tons, or about 55
percent of Thailand’s total
export trade.
Concluded for the first
time on September 28, 1970,
the trade agreement with
Taiwan is virtually the same
as with Japan and is
negotiated each year
following the signing of the
Japanese agreement. The
quantity involved is smaller
than that negotiated with
Japan-about half a million
metric tons a year-but has
upped sales to Taiwan
manyfold from the negligible
amounts sold prior to 1967.
Other important markets
for Thai corn include
Singapore, which took
183,900 metric tons in 1972;
Hong Kong, 95,843; and
Malaysia, 86,836.
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Because of the export
market’s importance, farm
prices for com are based on
export quotations-derived
largely from the price for
mulas specified in the
bilateral contracts with
Japan and Taiwan. Such
formulas, in turn, are based
upon the price of com in the
Chicago futures market.
Generally, farmers get 50-
55 percent of the export
price. But seldom do they
hold their crops to sell at the
season’s end or when prices
are high, instead selling
sometime during the harvest
period. This is in part
because of the lack of
modem storage facilities in
the Provinces, which
necessitates quick
movement of com from the
growing areas.
In contrast to the growing
export market, domestic use
of corn in Thailand is
limited, totaling only about
15 percent of production. A
few varieties of white and -
yellow waxy com and yellow
sweet corn are grown
commercially near the large
cities as a vegetable for
human consumption. But use
of com as feed is still very
low, even though grain
feeding of cattle and poultry
is on the rise.
The failure of com to catch
on as an animal feed at home
reflects the country’s
traditional use of rice bran is
becoming more and more
expensive, com is expected
to gain in importance as a
feed.
Despite its great success
thus far in expanding com
production and trade,
Thailand is running up
against some problems,
stemming in large part from
its dependence on traditional
production and marketing
practices.
Marketing, for instance, is
still complicated by a
preponderance of mid
dlemen. These include the
district dealer-the one
benefiting most from com
trade-who buys and collects
com from the farmer and
then resells to a Province
broker. The broker then
transports the corn to
Bangkok and sells it to the
com exporter. Occasionally
a farmer will sell directly to
the Provincial broker, but
seldom does he sell it to the
exporter.
Cultivation practices, too,
are much like those of the
past, with little use of fer
tilizer, improved seed, or
other inputs that might
improve yields.
Currently, there are no
private commercial seed
producers growing or
distributing high-quality
seed in Thailand and the
little that is available comes
from the Royal Thai
Government. Instead,
farmers depend on seed
selected locally or from their
own production.
Two improved varietles-
Pha Bhuttabatt No. 5 and
Pakchong No. 1501-have
contributed to a gradual
increase in yields in recent
years, and the National Com
and Sorghum Research
Institute, with help from the
Rockefeller Foundation,
carries out seed im
provement programs.
However, the research is
time consuming because of
the preliminary farm
testing, demonstration plots,
and seed multiplication
programs that must be
undertaken and thus still has
a long way to go before it can
be put to practical use.
Another problem is the
humid weather year-round,
which causes seed stored
under normal conditions to
deteriorate and be destroyed
by insects within a few
months. There is thus a need
for better seed distribution
and a reduction of storage
time.
Use of fertilizer to increase
yields is very limteed, in
part because much of the
com has been grown on
recently cleared timberland
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