USSEC brought a team of twelve nutritionists and full fat soybean meal (FFSBM) producers from the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia to Thailand to visit a FFSBM plant and attend a lecture on the use of FFSBM. The team also participated in the trade show VIV Asia in Bangkok on March 11-13. There were an additional fourteen Philippine participants sponsored by Sunmade Inc, and four from Indonesia who joined the team, demontrating the very high interest among the industry in FFSBM utilization.
The team visited the VCF Group, Ltd., one of the biggest commercial pig farms in Thailand with 37,000 sows in five different locations in the country. The VCF facility is located in central Thailand’s Nakhon Pathom province. VCF is a completely integrated farm that operates a state-of-the-art feedmill with computerized control panels and extrusion plants with four extruder machines. According to VCF, local FFSBM producers prefer U.S. soybeans because of the higher oil content but they are limited, however, by what is available on the local market.

Besides its feed mill operations, VCF also has biogas facilities set up in all its five location farms, supplying all the electricity requirements of the farm and its neighborhood. VCF has its own slaughter house where all its fatteners are sent for chilling and processing. VCF is a family corporation and is being managed by the owner’s three sons.

The highlight of the trip was an exclusive seminar, held at the Centerpoint Hotel in Bangkok, conducted by Dr. Uthai Kanto, director of the Suwanvajokkasikit Animal Research and Development Institute at Kasetsart University, who spoke about the use of FFSBM and cassava in swine and poultry feeds. Dr. Uthai talked about Thailand’s advantage in raw material availability, especially the use of cassava while emphasizing studies showing the extraordinary performance of pigs and poultry which were fed a combination of cassava and FFSBM. Thailand is the biggest consumer of FFSBM in Southeast Asia, with monthly production and consumption of 600,000-700,000 metric tons (MT) per year.

The team also visited VIV Asia in Bangkok, a biennial trade event for animal nutrition and feed, showcasing new ideas and technologies. A number of commericial companies with value-added soy products such as fermented soybean meal and soy protein concentrates exhibited at VIV Asia. These companies participated in VIV Asia to actively promote and demonstrate the value of their products. Other commercial by-products from soybeans that were present at the show were lecithin and glycerin, both of which can also be used in specialized feeds.