December 23, 2009

Thailand's seafood exports to grow despite new EU rules

New EU regulations will not dampen the prospects of Thai seafood exports, which are expected to generate US$3.55 billion in revenue in 2010, up 2.2% on-year thanks to global recovery.

Exports of processed and fresh shrimp should contribute as much as US$2.3 billion, or about 65% of the total, said the Thai Frozen Food Association (TFFA).

From 2010, the EU will ban seafood products suspected of originating from illegal, unregulated or unreported (IUU) fishing. Imports will require documents from competent authorities such as Thailand's Fisheries Department to certify that products are non-IUU.

Thai fishery is generally a small-scale business and it is quite hard for fishermen to prepare paper documents as required by the EU, said TFFA president Panisuan Jamnarnwej.

But the issue is likely to have little impact on shrimp, as nearly 90% of Thailand's total production of 520,000 tonnes in 2009 comes from about 32,000 farms, according to the Fisheries Department.

Thailand's shrimp production has surged in recent years due to improving farmer expertise, said Panisuan. Most exports are of vannamei white shrimp, which are easy to raise and have a high survival rate.

The TFFA estimates Thailand will export about 362,000 tonnes of shrimp products by the end of 2009, worth about THB79.08 billion (US$2.37 billion). Major exports markets are the US, Japan and the EU.

This year, seafood exports will total 882,600 tonnes, with a value of THB119 billion (US$3.57 billion). Farm-raised white fish, especially the tilapia, has strong export potential in many markets, said Panisuan.