June 11, 2008

Thai government rejects call to raise feed prices

Thailand's Commerce Ministry is unmoved by the animal feed producers' pleas to allow them to raise prices to offset rising costs.

Instead, the ministry asked the producers to help maintain the prices and will reconsider their proposal to raise prices by 10-20 percent.

The Thai Feed Mill Association intends to call a meeting for its members to consider how long they could maintain their prices, as the prices of certain raw materials such as rice and wheat had weakened, according to the association president Pornsil Patcharintanakul.

In late April, feed producers and raw material producers' associations called for the government to allow them to increase prices. They have been trying to get the approval since January to no avail.

The association also asked for the waiver of import tariffs on substitute raw materials such as fish oil, groundnut meal and brewers' grains to ease the rising costs of livestock producers, a proposal that was also rejected.

Import tariffs on substitute raw materials range from 5-10 percent.