EU, Japan Import More Thai Chicken, Says Commerce Ministry

BANGKOK, August 3 (TNA) - The European Union (EU) and Japan have started to import more Thai chicken, especially Japan which lifted a nine-year ban last December after finding that the kingdom has been free from bird flu, a senior official at the Thai Ministry of Commerce said on Sunday. Combined imports of Thai frozen and processed chicken by the EU and Japan during the first six months this year rose 2.6 per cent equivalent to about 1.08 billion US dollars, according to Mrs. Nantawan Sakuntanak, director-general of International Trade Promotion Department. Exports of Thai fresh and processed chicken this year are projected at between 560,000 - 570,000 tonnes valued about 78 billion baht, up from 530,000 tonnes valued 70 billion baht in 2013. However, projection on exports this year is still lower than earlier target she said. Mrs. Nantawan said that several fast food chains , especially the well-known Family Mart of Japan which has more than 10,000 outlets have expressed interests in importing Thai chicken. The Japanese government has imposed stricter measure on chicken imported into Japan and Thai operators have to maintain production and packaging qualities in order to be able to expand export markets in future, she noted. (TNA)