August 17, 2004

Thai Poultry Industry To Be Regulated

As part of the Thai Agriculture Ministry's strategic plan for the poultry business up to 2008, a ministerial order will be issued to limit the number of birds raised for family consumption because they are most likely to be disease-carriers, said Banphot Hongthong, the permanent secretary of the Agriculture Ministry.

The relocation of fighting cocks will also be closely monitored and the raising system standardized, he added.

There are more than 50 million domestic chickens and over 1 million fighting cocks nationwide, said Livestock Development Department's director-general Yukol Limlamthong.

The department has already started to register them for random blood checks and more efficient monitoring on relocation, he added.

Yukol said the order would make it easier to reduce the number of domestically raised fowl and that the department would encourage more closed-system farms for fighting cocks and reorganize the fighting rings.

Banphot added that the ministry's aims to raise local consumption of chicken by one kilogram per person per year. Currently chicken consumption averages 14.5 kilos per person per year.

A new goal targeted proportions of exported chicken as 70 per cent processed, mainly focused on Asian markets, and 30 per cent fresh, Banphot said.

The government will help the private sector penetrate more markets, develop products and standardise factories and slaughterhouses, he added.

The president of Thai Broiler Processing Exporters' Association, Anan Sirimongkolkasem, urged the government to talk with trading partners to open up their markets to Thai products, especially Japan and Korea, which have high standards for poultry imports.

He said exports this year would total 200,000 tons and increase next year.