Update: Thailand responds to EU import quota

Although most of the benefits in the new EU chicken quota favor Brazil, says Dr. Anan, Thailand’s poultry industry can still survive if it can count on an annual EU import quota of no less than 200,000 tons of fully cooked chicken.

For the European Union, Brazil definitely has advantages over Thailand , such as lower cost of production due to more raw feed materials; but Thailand has more experience in its favorâ€”over 10 years in fully cooked poultry production and we have won the confidence of our customers. Although, opening up a new market for fully cooked poultry is not as easy, as it is for fresh meat.

â€œWhile our biggest challenge will be to open up markets in the Middle East, and this is what we are now working on, counting on our success in the very near future, hopefully in one year’s time.â€ For Dr. Anan, president of the Thai Broiler Processing Exporters Association, the future prospects are not discouraging: â€œWe have done it before when we first entered the cooked chicken market ten years ago and I am sure we can do it again!â€

Today, the AI situation in Thailand is calm; there have been no new reported cases, and while countries can point to this as an excuse for not allowing the import of fresh or salted poultry, Thailand has a lot more to offer. A major market for Thailand is Japan, where they have more advantages because of geographical closeness and culture.

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