July 5, 2004

Charoen Pokphand Foods Says EU's Ban On Thai Chickens Will Not Affect Its Exports

Thailand's largest food processing company Charoen Pokphand Foods (CPF) believes the European Union's (EU) ban on importing frozen Thai chickens will not affect the company's exports.

The EU has delayed import of frozen Thai chickens until the end of the year; for fear that the fowls may be affected by the avian bird flu epidemic which had hit the country's chicken industry earlier this year.

The EU had planned to start importing Thai frozen chickens in August, the Thai News Agency reported Sunday.

A senior company official was quoted by the agency as saying that the CPF still expected to meet its export target of processed and cooked chickens of around 95,000 tonnes. This export target is estimated to be worth 12 million baht (0.3 million US dollars) to the company.

According to Thirasak Urunanond, a CPF director, this is because the company has switched its sales strategy to the high end of the market, producing more processed and cooked chickens for export. This move had helped the company off-set the drastic fall in the exports of frozen chickens, following the bird flu virus outbreak earlier this year.

Thailand's poultry industry was badly hit by the ban on Thai chickens by the EU, Japan, South Korea and Singapore after Thailand was affected by the Avian Bird flu epidemic.