Page 43 - FoodFocusThailand No.175 October 2020

SPECIAL FOCUS

because it has higher added value and could promoted as a “Product Champion” because it could help add 8.2-times value to cassava
efficiently correct the cassava supply/demand by 2027. Looking ahead, bolstering demand or marketing gluten-free flour must be carried
balance in Thailand. out concurrently with promoting its supply. There should be efforts to boost domestic demand
KResearch assesses that if Thailand could for gluten-free flour in order to reduce dependency on exports, in particular to China, where
use 10% of the 30 million tons in cassava demand is set to slow. In response to the government’s policy of promoting the creation of
produced in the country during 2020-2021 to value-added farm products under the “Food Innovation City” or “Food Innopolis” concept,
process into gluten-free flour (which means that related public and private sector agencies must be encouraged to innovate via R&D, while
the processing of shredded cassava, cassava investment in necessary infrastructures such as factory prototype, education curriculum,
pellets and native tapioca starch would have to and international research cooperation must be promoted.
be reduced by 10%, as well), Thailand may be In addition, advancements in biotechnology will help to promote sustainable growth in
able to add value to fresh cassava bulbs by the Thai agriculture and food industries via new investment, especially in the EEC and
approximately 2.3 times or THB 137 billion. S-Curve industries, with their focus on state-of-the-art and high value-added technologies.
However, the Thai gluten-free flour business is If Thailand can successfully use biotechnology to improve the efficiency of the agricultural
in its infancy, and the commercial processing sector, this will pave the way for Thailand to become one of the world’s agriculture and F&B
of gluten-free flour remains low due to limited leaders, and allow Thailand to enhance its competitiveness in the global market and
technical know-how, in particular among most substantially increase its export value, going forward.
educational institutions and government
agencies. As a result, there are only a few large
gluten-free flour processors in the country,
although there have been some developments
seen in processing gluten-free flour for export
during 2020-2021 in line with the country’s
second phase of biotechnology development
policy framework for 2012-2021.
Over the long term, KResearch projects that
Thailand’s cassava output is to decline to
around 20.6 million tons in 2027. If Thailand
could use 40% of that cassava output to process
gluten-free flour (which means that the
processing of shredded cassava, cassava
pellets and native tapioca starch would have to
be reduced by 40%, as well), and there is an
increase in the gluten-free flour price per unit
as a result of demand growth in the global
market, it is expected that Thailand would be
able to add about 8.2-times value to fresh
cassava bulbs, or THB 486 billion. This means
that our processing of gluten-free flour for export
would be substantially improved in tune with
the government’s goal of Thailand becoming a
bio hub for ASEAN by 2027, achieved by using
the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC), which
has the Biopolis in the Eastern Economic
6
Corridor of Innovation as a platform to support
investment and spur new businesses, which in
turn may help create a new income base and
greater sustainability for the country. In addition,
gluten-free flour is a product that has high added
value in related and supporting industries in line
with the government’s bioeconomy development
plan to link 10 targeted industries. Of these
targeted industries, the government offers the
most support to five industries, including
agriculture and biotechnology, food processing,
biofuel and biochemical, integrated medicine,
and affluent, medical and wellness tourism.

In Summary
As projected low cassava prices may not
provide incentive for farmers to expand cassava
cultivation, Thailand must accelerate its efforts
to add value to cassava in order to reduce risks
stemming from price volatility and export of low
value-added intermediate cassava products. In
so doing, low value-added primary cassava
products must be promoted in the supply chains
of promising industries which manufacture high
value-added products that are consistent with
future consumption trends, such as cosmetics,
medicines, dietary supplements and F&B. Of
such products, gluten-free flour should be

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