Singapore to import more Thai chicken

BANGKOK, January 5 (TNA) - The Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives reports that Singapore has given the green light to import more fresh frozen chicken from Thailand. Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister General Chatchai Sarikulya told journalists on Thursday his ministry's Department of Livestock Development has been officially notified by Singapore's Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) that it has already approved 20 more Thai plants to export their fresh frozen chicken to the island nation. General Chatchai said the AVA approval followed fruitful bilateral talks between he, himself, and a Singapore authority on the sidelines of the 38th ASEAN Agriculture and Forestry Ministerial Meeting in the island state in October 2016. General Chatchai noted that Thailand was only allowed to export cooked chicken to Singapore in 2004 but since late 2012, AVA has approved two Thai plants for exporting fresh frozen chicken to Singapore. The minister projected that Thailand's fresh frozen exports to Singapore should, thus, increase no less than 5,000 tonnes in 2017, earning the Kingdom at least additional 400 million baht, from the current figure of about 16,000 tonnes, covering processed and cooked chicken, fresh frozen chicken and processed and cooked pork, earning the country about 2.34 billion baht totally in 2016 alone. (TNA)