Thailand Food Industry 2006 - GBR

FOODNEWS THAILAND January, 2006
Canned
fruits
Sweetness,
weakness
Sugar and labour issues
have been putting Thai
processors under pressure,
but with supply and sales
rising, optimism is returning
to the industry.
BY RICHARD SIMPSON
SUGAR is proving to be an extremely
trying issue for Thai pineapple canners
as fears of a shortage in the country, which
is the world’s third largest exporter of the
product, has left the canned industry with
a distinctly sour taste in its mouth.
Overall costs have gone up substantially
over the past year, as they have in general for
canned foods, with fuel, labour and tin-plate
all increasing in price.
The Thai government is closely monitoring
the production cost of sugar at present
before deciding whether to remove it from
the list of price-controlled goods, to prevent
a shortage to the domestic market.
Pineapple canners in particular will have
been alarmed by recent calls by the Thai
Sugar Miller Corporation, one of the country’s
biggest sugar companies, to float sugar
prices and regulate the amount canners take.
“Supply might be tight if the government
cannot fix loopholes on sugar smuggling and
the amount bought by major sugar consumers
such as canned fruit producers,” said
Thai Sugar Miller president Vibul Panitvong,
quoted in the Business Times.
A shortage of skilled labour has also been
an issue for processors, and came to a head
back in November 2005 when canners struggled
to catch up on a backlog of orders, due
partly to the delay in the start of the packing
period.
Factories were only running at about 80%
of their capacity, due to the lack of labour but
in the end canners were able to push on and
ensure enough fruit was available coming
THAI EXPORTS OF CANNED PINEAPPLE (January-December)
200820 (tonnes) 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005*
US 85 245 81 659 84 283 103 399 116 965 118 848
Russia 920 8 825 8 525 10 102 17 952 33 803
Netherlands 33 555 26 704 19 987 27 716 37 508 33 188
Germany 59 600 58 701 47 314 53 813 45 978 31 828
Japan 32 152 33 708 28 796 26 009 29 518 29 289
Canada 18 926 21 280 21 857 22 393 22 485 20 516
UK 17 503 15 432 13 975 15 706 18 394 15 275
Poland 3 099 7 994 8 296 13 129 12 871 12 349
Saudi Arabia 6 133 9 670 7 631 8 807 8 558 11 780
France 17 039 16 705 14 201 15 906 14 716 11 624
Italy 11 962 7 800 7 410 11 427 11 938 9 463
Spain 12 261 10 488 9 499 12 375 11 696 8 542
Australia 10 463 8 825 4 726 5 229 5 039 7 393
Taiwan 7 690 6 336 6 592 6 043 7 066 7 389
Yemen 3 243 4 714 5 141 6 945 6 274 6 608
UAE 1 152 1 802 2 927 3 435 3 994 5 603
South Korea 2 153 1 966 3 701 3 375 6 365 5 404
Finland 7 995 8 306 4 295 7 079 6 438 5 369
Sweden 6 259 6 474 4 915 6 762 6 296 5 341
Romania 3 668 4 115 2 672 4 216 3 511 5 164
Pakistan 2 410 2 278 2 794 4 370 3 265 4 931
Denmark 3 583 4 420 4 270 4 913 4 671 4 599
Belgium 9 401 8 935 6 881 10 425 6 812 4 543
Others 71 770 61 585 64 171 91 687 69 770 63 784
Total 428 182 418 722 384 859 475 261 478 080 462 633
*Statistics accurate up to November Source: GTIS
into 2006.
One trader told FOODNEWS at the time:
“Labour is a major problem for many Thai
industries and the canning industry is no
exception. Packers are not able to reap the
full advantages of the crop because it is proving
almost impossible to get the workforce. It
is frustrating.”
On the production side of things though,
Thailand is in an extremely healthy position
heading towards the summer crop in
March/April, despite heavy rainfall, leaving
Thai pineapple farmers struggling to harvest
the country’s winter crop back in September,
and making raw material scarce and few
offers for canned fruit.
Better availability
Better fruit availability has reflected in the
current fairly low raw material price of
THB3.00/kg, as of 16 January 2006, a big
drop on early-October’s price of THB4.50-
5.50/kg, and packers are comfortable enough
not to have to fight over produce.
The wet weather was in stark contrast to
the severe drought that hit Thailand’s growing
areas at the start of the year, and led to
substantial fruit loss (FOODNEWS passim).
Thai canners are now confident that the
winter crop can make up for the summer
shortfall, although the disappointing summer
crop was a blow.
“The winter crop has almost compensated
for the shortage in produce from the summer
and Thailand is expected to meet the 1.85
million tonnes of pineapple forecast to be
produced this year. The problem is that we
really needed the summer crop for the EU
summer sales, so availability is not as important
now, “ said one major Thai processor.
The Thai canned pineapple industry, like
their counterparts in sweet corn, will be
crossing their fingers that the weather is
kinder this year than last.
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