Research and Markets: Thailand Agribusiness Report Q1 2011

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/e39e4a/thailand_agribusin) has announced the addition of the "Thailand Agribusiness Report Q1 2011" report to their offering.

The Thailand Agribusiness service provides proprietary medium term price forecasts for key commodities, including corn, wheat, rice, sugar, cocoa, coffee, soy and milk; in addition to newly-researched competitive intelligence on leading agribusiness producers, traders and suppliers; in-depth analysis of latest industry developments; and essential industry context on Thailand's agribusiness service.

BMI View: The El Nio Southern Oscillation weather pattern affected crops like rice and sugar though not nearly as much as they had expected, given the wetter Q410. According to the Bangkok Post, Thailand's food exports in H110 grew a robust 15.9%t year-on-year to THB411.63bn. Estimates for the entire year are THB830.16bn, which would be a 10% rise from 2009.

• Rice Production to 2014/15: 10.6%. BMI are forecasting rice production in Thailand to rebound from 2009/10's estimated output of 19.4mn tonnes to reach 20.7mn tonnes in 2010/11. This is because damage to rice crops from droughts and floods is anticipated to be less severe in 2010/11 than it was for 2009/10.
• Sugar Production to 2014/15: 35.5%. Despite Thailand being the world's second largest sugar exporter, the first half of 2010 saw fears grow of shortages on the domestic market. As retail prices for the sweetener rose in the provinces, the government said it plans to extend price controls enforced in greater Bangkok to the whole country. BMI believe the government's interference in the internal sugar market through quotas and price controls are the major cause of the shortages.
• Dairy Production to 2014/15: 14.7%. In the dairy sector, a combination of the recovering Thai economy and the expansion of the government's free school milk programme has seen a wave of new investments in processing capacity. The Dairy Farming Promotion Organisation (DPO), which sells Thai-Denmark branded dairy products, and Nongpho Dairy Co-operative - one of Thailand's oldest dairy co-operatives - both announced they would increase their processing facilities to meet the demand for milk from schools.
• In October 2010, Nongpho Dairy Co-operative teamed up with Thailand Post and telcomm company Top Up 4 U to launch a first of its kind THB10mn (US$335,000) marketing campaign aimed at boosting demand for its products and hopefully driving sales to meet the THB2.8bn (US$94mn) target.
• Coffee Consumption to 2015:128%. Riding on the popularity of coffee in the country, Italasia Trading (Thailand), the importer and distributor of Italian-based illycaffe products, has established a 'coffee university' to further promote premium coffee in the Thai market. It aims to train about 1,200 professional baristas and coffee lovers in the first year.

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/e39e4a/thailand_agribusin