Rubber prices soar the price of coffee beans cut down in Thailand has been affected.

Somchai, director of the Agricultural academic Department of the Thai Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperation, said that coffee growers in the south are starting to cut down coffee trees and switch to rubber and palm trees because of the sharp rise in rubber prices and a lack of confidence in the market prospects and prices of coffee beans. It is predicted that coffee bean prices will be affected after the implementation of the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (AFTA) in January 2010.

The market predicts that domestic operators in Thailand will increase their imports of coffee beans from Vietnam and Indonesia. As the cost is lower than that in China, it is estimated that the coffee acreage in Thailand will be reduced by 25-300000 lai in 2010 from 350000 9000 lai in 2009.

Ma Nuo, an agricultural expert at the Chiang Mai Agricultural Research Center of the Thai Agricultural academic Office, revealed that Thailand consumes 60-70,000 tons of coffee beans every year, but China can only produce 40,000-50,000 tons, so it must import coffee beans from abroad to make up. In 2010, Thailand imported about 1127.38 tons of raw coffee beans from foreign countries, accounting for 97.08% of ASEAN countries' imports; at the same time, Thailand also imported about 27.4 tons of finished coffee beans, of which 20.03% were imported from ASEAN countries.

Thai coffee beans still have an advantage in quality, but Vietnam also has advantages in the output and quality of coffee beans. If Thailand wants to compete with Vietnam, it must focus on quality and commodity standards. At the same time, we must establish the characteristics of Thai coffee and reach the international level in order to be internationally recognized.

Mano said coffee growers must step up efforts to reduce production costs, improve production efficiency, and increase output per Lai. In order to improve the production efficiency of coffee beans, coffee gardens have been set up in Chiang Mai, Chiang Cai, Nan Fu, Chunfeng and Luo Yong Fu, with a total of 20-25 plots of land. Coffee growers are welcome to enter the local area to learn the scientific and technological knowledge of growing coffee.