Higher demand for fresh Thai chicken on world market

BANGKOK, January 30 (TNA) - Thailand's Department of Livestock Development, under the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, reports that global demand for fresh Thai chicken has risen due to outbreaks of bird flu in many other countries. The department's deputy director-general, Sorawit Thaneeto, in his capacity as the department's spokesman, told journalists on Sunday that the World Health Organisation (WHO) has issued a warning for all countries to closely monitor the updated situation on bird flu, especially those in the cold region, including America, Europe, Japan, South Korea and China, where there are reports on bird flu cases. Sorawit stated that Thailand has been free from avian influenza since 2006 and Thai poultry products have been recognised by the world community for their standard quality, resulting in the higher demand for fresh Thai chicken currently. According to the senior official, major markets for fresh Thai chicken exports include Japan, the European Union (EU) and South Korea. Besides, Singapore has recently certified 20 more fresh Thai chicken production plants, further raising the country's chicken exports. Cushioned by the positive factors, the senior oficial projected that exports of fresh Thai chicken and other poultry products should reach as high as 760 billion tonnes in 2017, worth 97.9 billion baht, prompting the country to probably increase its chicken production capacity to about 1.59 billion units by the end of this year. (TNA)