BANGKOK, Feb 9 – Thailand is expected to export more chicken this year following outbreaks of bird flu in several countries since late last year, according to a report issued by Kasikorn Research Centre.
The deadly disease has been found in a number of countries including China, Japan, the Netherlands, the US, Canada, Egypt and Nigeria.
Several countries have imposed import bans on chicken from certain producing countries, the report said.
The ban may help push Thailand’s exports of chicken and its products this year if the deadly disease does not occur here, while confidence in Thai chicken would be further boosted as South Korea will lift its ban and allow Thai chicken imports from mid-2015, the report said.
However, the current strengthening of the Thai baht, especially against the Japanese yen and the euro currencies could depress the country’s chicken exports as importers from those countries may bargain for lower export prices of chicken meat and processed chicken.
Kasikorn Research Centre forecasts that Thailand would earn about US$2.4 billion dollars from exportingf frozen and processed chicken in 2015, up 4.5 per cent from last year.
