February 16, 2007

Thailand may seek to lift Australian shrimp restrictions through WTO

Thailand would raise the issue of shrimp requirements imposed by Australia with a World Trade Organisation (WTO) committee later this month.

Australia's bio-security unit had recently produced a risk analysis report on shrimp products imported from Thailand and had recommended a compulsory measure that the shrimps must be certified as having been boiled at 85 deg C.

Chutima Bunyapraphasara, director-general of the Trade Negotiations Department, said representatives of the Commerce, Agriculture, and Foreign Ministries had assured Australian officials that Thailand had its own method to make shrimps clean and safe for consumption. They also warned that the measures imposed would affect Thai shrimp exports to Australia, which totaled THB 2.29 billion (US$68 million) last year.

Chutima said Thailand would raise the issue for discussion with Australia again when the WTO Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures meets in Switzerland February 28-March 1.

The Australian requirement is obviously a trade barrier as there is no scientific evidence to substantiate it, she said.

As a last resort Thailand may file a complaint with the WTO, said the director-general.