Fishery exports to South Africa from Thailand, already the top canned- and prepared-seafood exporter to Africa, stand to benefit further from the Fifa World Cup, the Kasikorn Research Centre (KResearch) said.

 

With South Africa hosting the World Cup from June 11 to July 11, that country's tourism, service and other businesses will experience a boost, especially food-related ones like restaurants and hotels.

 

This will translate to strong demand for quality and safety of fishery products, presenting a great opportunity for Thai exports to the continent to grow.

 

At present, South African imports of fresh, chilled, frozen and salted seafood and seafood in brine from Thailand have grown 121% so far this year. The vast majority of the products, 97.6%, are canned and processed shrimp, crabmeat and shellfish.

 

In the first quarter, South Africa was Thailand's top canned- and prepared-seafood importer, with a product value of US$24.6 million. Fish accounted for 97.5% of that. While shrimp, crabmeat and shellfish accounted for the other 2.5%, it was nevertheless 18.6% lower on-year in export value.

 

The lower export volume of Thai canned seafood to South Africa was likely due to a shift to more imports from other countries, particularly China, according to KResearch.