First shipment of chicken heads to Saudi after normalisation of ties
A shipment of processed chicken left Thailand’s shores on Monday for Saudi Arabia for the first time in 18 years after the two kingdoms recently normalised ties.
Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanawisit presided over a ceremony marking the first shipment of processed chicken at the Charoen Pokphand Foods (CPF) factory in Minburi. Also present were CPF CEO Prasit Boondoungprasert, secretary-general of the Central Islamic Committee Pol Maj-General Surin Palare, advisor to the commerce minister Mallikar Boonmeetrakul, director-general of the Department of International Trade Promotion Phusit Ratanakul Serirerngrit and Watnasak Sua-iam, director-general of the Department of Internal Trade.
Prasit thanked Jurin and Agriculture Minister Chalermchai Sri-on for negotiating the deal with Saudi authorities.
He said that thanks to the two ministers, five chicken-processing factories owned by CPF have been given the Saudi Arabian stamp of approval.
“This coordination with Saudi Arabia will boost the country’s chicken exports sustainably,” he said.
CPF expects to earn close to 500 million baht from the export of some 6,000 tonnes of processed chicken to Saudi Arabia this year.
Jurin, meanwhile, said the Monday shipment made history as it was the first step towards bilateral trade in 18 years. He added that Thai diplomats, in coordination with the Foreign Ministry, had negotiated the certification of 11 factories in Thailand to export chicken meat to the Middle Eastern country.
Jurin said 75 per cent of chicken consumed in Saudi Arabia is imported, 25 per cent of which is shipped from Ukraine and France. However, he said, the aim is for Thailand to soon become a key exporter of chicken to Saudi Arabia.
Thailand exported about 900,000 tonnes of chicken meat earning some 100 billion baht last year, Jurin said. He added that this amount would rise to about 980,000 tonnes per year now that the Saudi Arabian market has been opened to Thailand.
