Thai beef farmers to protest against US beef imports at Agriculture Ministry tomorrow

Thai beef farmers will rally in front of the Ministry of Agriculture on Thursday, to protest against the government’s plan to lift the import ban on US beef and offal into Thailand, as a part of the trade negotiations following the US imposition of 36% reciprocal tariffs on Thai imports to the US market.

On Monday, the Beef Cattle Association of Thailand sent a letter to Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and ministers concerned, expressing their opposition to the planned lifting of the import ban on US beef, which it claims will affect more than 1.4 million Thai cattle farming families.

Sitthiporn Boorananath, vice president of the association, claimed that Thai cattle breeders are already being affected by the free trade agreements with Australia and New Zealand, which permit the imports of their beef into Thailand.

He also noted that the import of US beef will contravene Thai law, which prohibits the use of leanness-enhancing agents widely used by American beef farmers.

Sitthiporn complained that the Thai government has not provided small-scale cattle farmers with an opportunity to express their opinions, but has only listened to the views of major breeders.

He claimed that the price of live beef cattle has now dropped, to 60-70 baht/kg from about 100 baht/kg, while the price of offal has fallen to 1,800 baht/kg from about 4,000 baht/kg.

The Prime Minister has assigned Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira to head a special Thai delegation to negotiate with their US counterparts over tariffs.

He is scheduled to meet with representatives of the PTT oil and gas company today, to discuss the possibility of increasing imports of US energy, to partially address the trade imbalance between Thailand and the US.

The Thai delegation will depart for the US tomorrow.