The livestock industry is expected to expand strongly, thanks to the resumption of raw meat imports by Japan and the weak baht.
Pisit: Weak baht a plus for exporters
Total shipment worldwide is likely to be as high as 630,000 tonnes, about 100,000 tonnes more than last year, say executives of Charoen Pokphand Foods (CPF), the food flagship of the CP Group.
“Baht depreciation by 7-8% from last year is also a plus for Thai exporters,” said Pisit Ohmpornnuwat, chief operating officer in charge of overseas business for CPF.
The average exchange rate against the US dollar in the first quarter was about 32 baht, down from 30 baht quoted in the same period of last year.
The weak baht could push up chicken export revenue to 80 billion baht, up from 69 billion baht last year.
Japan resumed buying raw chicken meat from Thailand on Dec 25, 2013 after a 10-year ban due to the bird flu pandemic. The move would bring Japan’s total import of cooked and raw chicken meat to 300,000 tonnes. Europe is another major importer, buying a similar amount of Thai chicken products.
According to Mr Pisit, Thailand may have the chance to export chicken to some markets importing from Brazil, the world’s biggest chicken meat exporter.
“As the host of the World Cup next month, the tournament is likely to boost local consumption, which could cause supply shortfalls from Brazilian sellers. This could be a chance for Thai exporters to make up the supply in some markets,” he said.
CPF plans to export about 140,000 tonnes of chicken meat this year, up from 100,000 tonnes in 2013. Japan will take 50,000 tonnes and the rest will go to Europe and other markets.
Besides Japan, South Korea and Turkey are two potential markets that will resume importing uncooked meat from Thailand this year.
The growth has prompted CPF to operate its processing plants nationwide at full capacity, slaughtering up to 900,000 birds a day.
CPF is also pinning high hopes on the recovery of shrimp exports, another core income earner which did not fare well last year due to being hit by early mortality syndrome, which affected farmed shrimps nationwide and led to exports plummeting to 254,000 tonnes from 340,000 tonnes in 2012.