March 1, 2006

Thailand's CPF profits quadrupled in 2005 despite bird flu

Charoen Pokphand Foods (CPF), Thailand's top poultry exporter foresees strong demand this year driven by cooked chicken exports despite growing fears over bird flu.

The company is unfazed by worries of bird flu currently spreading around the world as it would instead drive demand for cooked chicken products, said Adirek Sripratak, the president and CEO of CPF.

The company is also strong on its pork and shrimp products, he said.

CPF last year reported sales worth 113.37 billion baht (US$2.9 billion), up 24 percent from 2004. Net profit more than quadrupled to 6.747 billion baht (US$171 million) in a year when many Thai agri-businesses suffered sharp declines in exports of both poultry and shrimp due to sanitary and anti-dumping measures.

CPF predicted its exports of cooked chicken would rise by 30 percent this year to 104,000 tonnes.

Raw poultry products from Thailand were banned internationally since the first cases of the deadly H5N1 virus were detected in January 2004.

With the company's cooked chicken production capacity and a broad range of businesses, the company is confident of achieving 200 billion baht (US$5.1 billion) in annual sales within five years.