Thailand’s animal feed industry is pitching to buy about $2.8 billion worth of agricultural commodities annually from the United States instead of other suppliers, as the country seeks to narrow its $35-billion trade surplus and head off possible tariffs on its exports.
The Thai Feed Mill Association is in talks with the government to ease some rules to make US feedstuffs like soybean meal and corn more competitive to ship in, Pornsil Patchrintanakul, the president of the organisation, told Bloomberg News in an interview.
Thailand joins a number of countries scrambling to find ways to reduce their trade surpluses with the US, as President Donald Trump wields the threat of tariffs to reshape his country’s relations with trade partners.
Countries like India and South Korea are considering increasing their purchases of US energy, while Thailand has already promised to buy more US ethane.
Thailand recorded a trade surplus of $35.4 billion with the US last year, an increase from $29.4 billion in 2023. The surplus was $41.9 billion in 2022. Thailand currently stands just outside the top 10 countries with the largest trade surpluses, a list led by China at $295 billion.
President Trump has said that reciprocal tariffs would be applied widely against countries that have surpluses with the US, starting in April. The delay in imposing the tariffs leaves open a small window for negotiations, which is probably what Trump intended, say analysts.
Switch from Brazil
A move to reduce or remove a 2% Thai import tax on US soybean meal, potentially via a trade pact, could immediately incentivise Thai feed mills to switch their purchases from Brazil, Mr Pornsil said.
A temporary suspension of WTO-mandated tariffs on corn will also favour supply from the US, the world’s largest producer and exporter of the commodity, he added.
“We’re so open to buying more, but you have to fix these problems for us first. If it works, we’ll make the US a priority,” he said, adding that importing more American crops is one of the quickest actions his country can take to reduce its trade surplus.
Feed mills under the association have the capacity to buy from the US up to 48 billion baht ($1.4 billion) worth of soybean meal, 36 billion baht of corn, and 9.9 billion baht of ethanol by-product — a total of $2.8 billion every year, according to data compiled by the association. Thailand currently imports $68.2 million worth of American soybean meal and other crops, but no US corn.
Last week, Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra ordered relevant government agencies to study measures to protect Thailand’s trade interest in the new Trump era, according to government spokesman Jirayu Houngsub. A working group set up last month was tasked with preparing negotiation strategies and will be making recommendations to the cabinet in due course.
Thailand has forecast higher feed demand this year at 21.8 million tonnes, up from 21.1 million tonnes in 2024. Roughly 60% of the country’s total feed mix — which consists mainly of corn, soybean meal, and wheat — is imported. The industry mostly feeds chickens and pigs and is part of the country’s 900-billion-baht livestock supply chain.
Nearly all of Thailand’s soybean meal imports currently come from Brazil, while less than 1% are from the US. Corn is sourced locally and from Southeast Asian neighbours, while wheat comes from Europe. According to the association, the country could switch to buying 3 million tonnes of soybean meal and 4 million tonnes of corn from the US.
Thailand also imports varying amounts of distillers’ dried grains each year, the majority already coming from the US. If the government reduces or removes a 9% import tax on the ethanol by-product, Thai mills will likely have the capacity to import as much as 900,000 tonnes per year, according to estimates by the association.
Mr Pornsil warned that Washington might also pressure Thailand, an export-reliant economy, over market access for US pork products — a contentious issue that caused the first Trump administration to revoke $817 million in trade preferences for Thailand in 2020.
Currently, US pork cannot enter Thailand due to local laws banning the use of feed additives commonly used in American livestock production.
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