The Thai canned sweetcorn industry is catching up on late shipments carried over since floodings that occurred last year in key sweetcorn and baby corn harvesting areas severely damaged crops: “The output during those months – especially in September and October – was reduced to historical lows. Everything was running behind, but now things are slowly returning back to normal,” a local processor commented this week. The industry is currently offering contracts due for shipment not earlier than Q2 2023. Thailand exported 193,000 tonnes of canned sweetcorn in 2022, down 7% y/y in the context of raw material shortages. The Thai industry prioritized shipments to its largest markets Japan, South Korea and Taiwan in the backdrop of the raw material shortage throughout 2022 . Furthermore, despite supply challenges, the local industry managed to ship nearly 16,000 tonnes to the US, close to the historical high 20,000 tonnes exported last year; similarly, Thai exports to the EU27 and UK last year amounted to 13,800 tonnes, in line with that of the two previous years with anti-dumping duties still in force.

Nevertheless, the Thai shortage truly hampered export growth opportunities to the US, a key market for canned sweetcorn, to the benefit of China. China is quickly increasing canned sweetcorn production every year , with exports reaching 106,000 tonnes of canned sweetcorn in 2022, 85% up y/y and the largest export volume ever recorded; the largest bulk of the volume, nearly 28,000 tonnes, where shipped to the EU27, 250% up y/y; another 16,000 tonnes were delivered to the US, up 240% y/y. In the meantime, Thailand-based public listed company Sunsweet, the largest Thai canned sweetcorn processor, recently confirmed its plan to increase its own raw material production by 35% from 130,000 tonnes reported in 2018 to a potential of 200,000 tonnes in 2023. This volume would represent nearly 50% of the total sweetcorn raw material supply available for canning in a normal year in the country. The company is investing in technology to provide farmers with resources in order to get a consistent and regular raw material supply during sunshine or rainny days.