Thai traders say bureaucracy could cause port jams

Lead: Bangkok, Jan 22 (Reuters) - unless government officials quickly issue new rules on food import, Thai ports will be blocked in a short period of time, and domestic livestock breeding industry will also face feed shortage, Thai traders said on Tuesday In the past few weeks, Thailand's Ministry of Commerce said it would allow unrestricted imports of soybean meal this year, with a tariff of 5% In addition, the import of soybeans will be unrestricted in the form of tariff exemption Thailand usually imposes a tariff of 10% on soybean meal and imposes import quotas on soybeans Traders have bought a lot of grain in the international market and will arrive after the end of January But Thailand's Ministry of commerce still hasn't officially issued new regulations Unless a statement is issued soon, goods arriving at the port will be detained for processing Traders at a large feed processing plant in Thailand said that although the Ministry of Commerce had announced the grain import policy in 2002, a written document from the Ministry was needed for practical operation However, officials from the Thai Feed Association said the Ministry of commerce could not officially issue the document until the Thai cabinet sealed its approval, but the matter was not even on the agenda As the first shipment is due in the middle of next week, the time is very urgent Customs officials did not immediately comment The soybean cargo ship will arrive at helios2, a 12000 ton cargo ship, carrying Indian soybean meal It is planned to arrive at Bangkok port from January 30 to 31, and the cargo will be purchased by Cargill Another shipment of 63000 tons of soybeans from the United States will arrive in Thailand from February 9 to 10 The northern prince, carrying 18000 tons of Argentine soybean meal, will arrive in Bangkok in early February A ship of Argentine soybean meal purchased by nidera trading company was transported by the freighter hushun, which is scheduled to arrive in Bangkok on February 15 Feed processing plants say they urgently need these supplies, and Thailand will be short of animal feed if the freighters can't unload them soon In addition, on Tuesday, China's soybean meal price to Thailand was $205 per ton, CNF price in Bangkok, January / February shipping schedule Following China's accession to the World Trade Organization in December last year, Chinese soybean meal exporters have been actively entering new Asian markets to export domestic surplus soybean meal In recent weeks, they have also been exploring Thailand as a potential market The CNF price for American soybean meal to Bangkok is about $207 to $208 per ton, compared with $208 to $209 last Tuesday The price of high protein soybean meal in the United States is stable at US $226 per ton, CNF price in Bangkok The CNF price for Indian soybean meal in Bangkok was $205 per ton, compared with $197 to $198 last week Argentine soybean meal has not been quoted for a month Local corn prices range from THB 4.35 to THB 4.40 per kilogram, or US $98.90 to US $100 per ton Last week's price was THB 4.45 per kilogram, or US $101 per ton (author:) share to feed Weibo share to: