In Thailand, the dairy industry has been
promoted by the government according to the
National Economic and Social Development Plan
No. 4 (1977–1981) and the National Economic and
Social Development Plan current No. 11 (2012–
2016). The Royal Thai government aimed to enhance
Thai people’s health by having them consume milk
and to support the cow milk farmer to serve the
domestic demand (Food Intelligence Center, 2014).
However, the statistics showed that the average milk
consumption of Thai people is much lower than that
of the world consumption. Hence, the Royal Thai
government established a school milk project in 1992
to encourage kindergarten and primary students to
drink milk due to malnutrition in children. In addition,
the milk project supported the domestic milk supply
chain, which could not compete with imported dairy
products (School Milk Programs, 1992). In fact, 40%
of domestic raw milk production is dedicated to the
school milk via either UHT or pasteurized milk.
Therefore, the milk farmers have sufficient domestic
demand to support raw milk production.
From 2009 to 2013, the consumption of milk
products increased, on average, 3.4% annually, while
the yield of raw milk increased by 7.66% annually.
Raw milk prices determined by the milk board
remained high enough to encourage the cow milk
farmers to sustain their career. Recently, farmers
have had the ability to efficiently manage farms,
especially on animal feed and cow breed standards.
As a result, raw milk production has increased, and
quality is high. In 2014, the production of raw milk
in Thailand increased due to the natural expansion of
cows. At present, the number of medium and largesized
farms has increased, while that of small-sized
farms has decreased. The demand for raw milk was
divided into school milk and commercial market milk.
Although, the demand for school milk is quite stable,
the demand for commercial market milk is likely to
increase (Office of Agricultural Economics, 2013).