{"id":3501,"date":"2025-11-27T00:10:36","date_gmt":"2025-11-27T00:10:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=3501"},"modified":"2025-11-27T00:10:36","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T00:10:36","slug":"thailands-pork-industry-fears-influx-of-cheap-us-imports-under-trump-business-and-economy-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=3501","title":{"rendered":"Thailand\u2019s pork industry fears influx of cheap US imports under Trump | Business and Economy News"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Bangkok, Thailand \u2013<\/strong> Stewed, seasoned with sugar and cloves, deep-fried or dished up in a zingy chilli mince \u2013 the diets of most Thais are incomplete without pork.<\/p>\n

But a $3bn market \u2013 supplied nearly entirely by domestic pig farmers \u2013 may be about to face competition like never before from the giant hog farms of the world\u2019s third-largest producer, the United States.<\/p>\n

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While the fine print of the Thai government\u2019s preliminary trade deal with the US is yet to be revealed, some details have emerged.<\/p>\n

Washington has a 10,000-item-long wish list of goods it wants to enter Thailand duty-free to reduce its $45.5bn trade deficit with the Southeast Asian country, an imbalance President Donald Trump says unfairly disadvantages US producers.<\/p>\n

The list includes pork, corn, soya beans and some fruits.<\/p>\n

Shortly after Trump met Thailand\u2019s caretaker prime minister, Anutin Charnvirakul, on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Malaysia last month, the White House revealed some of the many strings attached to its trade deal, which set the tariff rate for the kingdom\u2019s exports to the US at 19 percent.<\/p>\n

They include Thailand agreeing to \u201caddress and prevent barriers to US food and agricultural products in the Thai market\u201d, according to the White House, and a commitment to \u201cexpediting access\u201d for US meat and poultry products.<\/p>\n

That has panicked Thailand\u2019s pig farmers, who say the industry may not survive a flood of cheaper, subsidised US pork, which is fattened up on ractopamine, a livestock additive banned in many countries, including the kingdom.<\/p>\n

\"pork
The entrance of an outlet of the grocery chain on January 8, 2022 [Lauren DeCicca\/Getty Images]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If US pork is allowed into Thailand without duties, nothing less than the kingdom\u2019s food security is at stake, according to Worawut Siripun, deputy secretary-general of the Swine Raisers Association of Thailand.<\/p>\n

\u201cProducers will not be able to survive and will stop raising pigs. But the risks are not only for farms facing falling pig prices,\u201d Worawut, who has about 10,000 pigs, told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose who grow feed crops are also affected, as well as animal feed traders, animal feed producers, and veterinary drug sellers. Everyone in the production cycle is impacted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump had made trade talks with Thailand contingent on Bangkok signing an extended ceasefire agreement with Cambodia.<\/p>\n

But in the weeks since meeting Anutin, Thailand has suspended truce talks over alleged Cambodian breaches of the terms of the agreement.<\/p>\n

While there are conflicting signals over whether tensions with Cambodia have put Thailand\u2019s trade negotiations with its biggest export destination on the back burner, farmers and livestock companies are bracing for intensified competition.<\/p>\n

Thailand\u2019s pork industry has weathered challenges ranging from outbreaks of swine flu to illegal imports from China and Vietnam.<\/p>\n

But it faces high costs, largely as a result of government price controls on corn and soya used to feed pigs and other livestock \u2013 a measure intended to protect the country\u2019s crop farmers, a key voting bloc.<\/p>\n

And like most of Thailand\u2019s agricultural producers, the country\u2019s pig farmers deal with slim margins.<\/p>\n

\"pork\"
Butchers chop up pork at the Bangkok Noi wholesale market on January 8, 2022 [Lauren DeCicca\/Getty Images]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cBoth imported and locally produced feed materials in Thailand are more expensive compared to the US, where feed is cheaper,\u201d Worawut said.<\/p>\n

Corn and other feed farmers are also bracing for tough times.<\/p>\n

Thailand announced earlier this month that it would lift its annual corn import limit, from approximately 50,000 tonnes to 1 million tonnes, and scrap a 20 percent tariff to appease Washington.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Anutin is likely to dissolve parliament in the coming weeks and set a date for new elections.<\/p>\n

He is angling to return to office in defiance of critics who say he has already given away too much to Washington before a comprehensive trade deal has been signed.<\/p>\n

Trump officials have already announced a deal to gain preferential access to Thailand\u2019s rare earths, the sale of billions of dollars of US-made aircraft and a promise by Bangkok not to tax US digital services companies.<\/p>\n

Anutin\u2019s bargaining position has been weakened by tough economic conditions.<\/p>\n

\"pork\"
A woman looks at a food stall selling roasted pork during a street festival in Bangkok, on December 28, 2019 [Mladen Antonov\/AFP]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On Monday, the Office of the National Economic and Social Development Council trimmed its economic growth forecast for 2026 to 1.2 percent, down from an expected 2 percent expansion this year \u2013 by far the weakest performance among Southeast Asia\u2019s leading economies.<\/p>\n

With a third round of trade talks with the US under a cloud following the suspension of the Thailand-Cambodia peace deal, the main political opposition party has called on the government to pause the negotiations and consult with local stakeholders.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a crucial moment,\u201d said Weerayut Karnchuchat, deputy leader of the opposition People\u2019s Party, Thailand\u2019s largest in parliament.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe minister of commerce has said negotiations will conclude by the end of 2025. That leaves around two months. The government should hold eight weeks of stakeholder hearings \u2026 especially groups directly affected, such as corn farmers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thailand should take stock and assess if regional peers with full US trade deals \u2013 including Cambodia, Vietnam and Malaysia \u2013 are happy with the outcomes and \u201cwhether Thailand is offering too much\u201d, he added.<\/p>\n

For many midsized businesses, the return of Trump and his trade war has made for a difficult year, with demand depressed across countless supply chains exposed to the US.<\/p>\n

Orders are retreating inside Thailand for everything from lightbulbs to electrical wires needed to run factories that export to the US.<\/p>\n

Tipok Lertwattanaweerakul, a durian farmer and middleman, said he has seen his profit margins slashed.<\/p>\n

Saudi Arabian buyers who sold durian to customers in the US had been Lertwattanaweerakul\u2019s main source of business, but with the Arab country hit with a 10 percent tariff, \u201cthey are no longer purchasing from me at all,\u201d he told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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Bangkok, Thailand \u2013 Stewed, seasoned with sugar and cloves, deep-fried or dished up in a zingy chilli mince \u2013 the diets of most Thais are incomplete without pork. But a $3bn market \u2013 supplied nearly entirely by domestic pig farmers \u2013 may be about to face competition like never before from the giant hog farms […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3502,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia-pacific"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3501"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3501\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}