Thailand's chicken industry could benefit as the European Union is likely to restore its import quota for Thai salted chicken next year.
In the past, the EU had given Thailand a larger export quota allocation of 252,643 tonnes: 160,033 tonnes of processed chicken and 92,610 tonnes of salted poultry. However, after the bird flu outbreak, in 2004 the European Union banned Thai salted chicken products.
Last year, Thailand shipped 160,033 tonnes of cooked chicken worth US$759 million to the EU. Under the quota, the tariff is 8% of the price per tonne. For chicken exported above the quota, the tariff is 53%.
Auswin Chotitawan, managing director of Golden Line Business Co, a subsidiary of Saha Farm Group, stated that the reinstated quota for salted chicken would help raise Thailand's chicken exports by about $291 million a year.
For the first four months, cooked chicken shipments were worth $447 million. Last year, total exports of the products were worth $1.56 billion.
Thai authorities and business executives also met recently with Renate Nikolay, a member of the cabinet of the EU Trade Commissioner in Belgium, asking the EU to cancel its import ban on fresh chicken from Thailand: the country has reportedly been free from the bird flu for over 200 days since Nov 12, 2008.
