The Characteristics of the Thai Broiler Industry

Abstract

The Thai broiler industry has expanded recently, and 90% of the exports is directed to the Japanese market. The purpose of this study is to describe the characteristics of the Thai broiler industry as compared with the industry in Japan and to analyze the characteris-tics of the integration which is combination of the production, processing and marketing of the industry.In order to do this, six broiler companies out of the seven were visited and surveyed in 1983 and 1985 and described in this study.The main characteristics of the Thai industry are as follows (i) The grain for broiler feed is produced in Thailand while the grain is importing in Japan. (ii) The price of the former is lower than that of the latter. (iii) However, the former fluctuates more than in the latter. (iv) The broiler meat colour is more dark in Thailand than in Japan because of the dark colored feed grain, especially maize or corn.(v) The price of broiler baby chicks is low, but fluctuates more than in Japan. (vi) More than half of the production in Thailand is integrated by feed companies. The body weight of the birds is mostly less than 1.8kg. (vii) The workers in the processing plants are younger and well qualified, but the wage level is low compared with that in Japan.(viii) The birds in the plant are inspected by a veterinarian. (ix) The broiler processing plants are mostly for export markets and the slaughter houses are for the home market.(x) The price of the broiler by-product such as the carcass, skin and feet is higher in Thailand than in Japan. Thus, the chicken's byproduct are directed to the Thai market, while the deboned meat or boneless meat, especially boneless breast and leg meat will be exported particularly to the Japanese market.