The Swine Raisers Association of Thailand has strongly opposed a government proposal to import US pork as part of trade deficit negotiations with Washington, warning it could devastate the domestic livestock industry and compromise consumer safety.
The association's president, Sitthiphan Thanakiatpinyo, was speaking recently about the idea proposed by the government to import animal feed corn and pork from the United States to reduce the trade imbalance following the US decision to impose a 36% import tariff on Thai goods.
Mr Sitthiphan said the association supports the import of corn, soybeans, soybean meal, wheat and other animal feed ingredients, which are in short supply in Thailand and are increasingly needed to keep up with the expanding livestock industry.
However, he strongly opposes importing US pork, warning it would destroy the domestic pork industry by making it impossible for Thai farmers to compete, eventually forcing them out of the business.
Then there will no longer be a demand for animal feed corn, and crop farmers will lose their jobs. Thailand will then stop importing corn from the US altogether, said Mr Sitthiphan.
Thailand's domestic pork production system involves a long supply chain, including crop farmers, grain traders, animal feed producers, pig farmers, slaughterhouses, market butchers and pork processors.
According to him, importing pork is bound to disrupt every step of this chain, effectively jeopardising the entire pork production system, which he argued is a cornerstone of the nation's food security.
Mr Sitthiphan pointed to the Philippines as a cautionary example, where pork imports led local farmers to lose motivation to continue farming, eventually resulting in pork shortages and a heavy dependency on imports. This caused pork prices to rise by 15–30%, affecting Filipinos to this day.
He further noted that Thailand's pork industry is considered safer than that of the US, as Thai law prohibits the use of leanness-enhancing agents due to their potential effects on the human cardiovascular and nervous systems when consumed in excessive amounts.
"I urge the Thai government's negotiation team, led by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira, to forfeit the idea of importing pork because it will only create countless problems later on," Mr Sitthiphan said.
