September 7, 2007

Thailand's seafood exporters hope to open up Russian market 

Thailand's Department of Fisheries is negotiating a 20,000-30,000-tonne increase in fishery products to Russia.

Russia imports more than 1.5 million tonnes of fishery products each year, presenting a huge market for Thailand, the Director General of the Department of Fisheries,  Charantada Kanasuth said.

Charantada said the fact that Russia does not practice rigid import standards means that Thailand should do well to seize the present opportunity.

Thailand, once the largest shrimp producer in Asia, currently exports seafood such as frozen shrimp and tilapia to Russia as well as a dozen other countries. Stricter seafood import standards and quotas in the US and the EU have given rise to the need to look for alternative markets.

Furthermore, Thailand's seafood exporters have been urged to go international as the local market reaches saturation and new markets  are needed in order for exporters to mitigate the effects of a strong baht.