November 29, 2006

 

Thailand's Sun to resume chicken exports to Japan and other countries

 

 

Thailand's Sun Group would start re-exporting frozen processed chicken in January next year after bird flu concerns in the regions put a stop to exports for three years.

 

The company expects to export a small shipment of 2,000 tonnes initially, compared to 30,000 tonnes in 2003 before the outbreak of the virus.

 

The recent European Union (EU) announced quota to Thailand would also help the company's exports, a statement said.

 

The EU has given Thailand a higher quota and lower tariffs than hoped for.

 

Sun Group would be exporting frozen processed chicken due to lingering bird flu concerns.

 

The group recently invested THB 200 million (US$5.5 million) for a production line  at its plant in Saraburi province. Production is expected to start early next year

 

Sun Group president Somkiert Tangjaiaworn said the company was testing recipes and production processes.

 

The group has also been busy re-establishing contact with former corporate customers abroad and sourcing new customers, he said. Sun Group is also working on developing new products for serving consumers in the domestic market.

 

Last year, it launched Gosun Hainanese chicken rice franchise and currently has about 100 franchisees in Thailand. The group has added grilled chicken to the franchise recently and is developing chicken noodles, roasted chicken and lemon chicken, said Somkiert. He said the group wanted to use chicken rice as a platform to launch awareness of Gosun before letting customers go into other varieties.

 

Sun Group expects to achieve sales of THB2.5 billion (US$69 million) by next year-end.

 

The Gosun franchise currently provides only 5 percent of sales, with 75 percent coming from sales to industrial manufacturers and 20 percent from direct sales to fresh markets or supermarkets.