July 18, 2006

Thai chicken exports expected to increase 30 percent in 2006

Thailand said its chicken exports are expected to rise by almost 30 percent this year as bird flu concerns fade in key export markets.

The agriculture ministry said exports of cooked chicken are targeted at 350,000 tonnes this year, up from the 276,000 tonnes shipped in 2005 on expectations of increased orders from Japan and the EU, Thai chicken's two biggest buyers.

Thailand has already shipped 140,000 tonnes of chicken overseas in the first six months of the year.

Yukol Limlamthong, director of the livestock development department, said while the EU ban on raw chicken exports from Thailand may extend until December next year, EU orders for Thai cooked chicken has increased 10 percent over the last year.

The EU extended the ban on raw chicken exports from Thailand recently. However, Thai officials have appealed, saying that there has been no bird flu in the country for more than 200 days, longer than the 90 days stipulated by the World Organisation for Animal Health for affected countries to be declared safe from bird flu.

The EU has sent an inspection team to Thailand to check on sanitary conditions.

Thailand has suffered 22 cases of bird flu in humans, including 14 fatalities, most recently in December.

However, almost all the bird flu cases were detected in backyard chickens not in the commercial sector where sanitation standards are quite high, said Pornchai Chamanpood, director of the National Institute of Animal Health.