The Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) of the US Department of Agriculture has released a report from the Global Agricultural Information Network (GAIN) predicting that soybean crush in Thailand will remain below pre-pandemic levels in the years 2023-24 and 2024-25. The report forecasts a 2% growth in soybean crush in 2023-24 and a 3% growth in 2024-25, compared to the average annual growth rate of 5% prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Soybean crush in Thailand is expected to reach 2.43 million tonnes in 2024-25, with imports mainly from Brazil meeting soybean demand in the country. The report notes that four active soybean crushers in Thailand have a combined daily capacity of 12,500 tonnes but are operating at only around 70% capacity due to lower than expected domestic consumption of cooking oil and soybean meal for animal feed following an economic slowdown. Despite this, crushers primarily produce cooking oil, with soybean meal for animal feed serving as another key revenue stream.
However, crushers are currently holding high inventories of soybeans due to lower than expected demand for full fat soybeans, used as an ingredient for feed rations. The FAS predicts that demand for full fat soybeans will increase by around 3% each year in 2023-24 and 2024-