60
SEP2017
FOOD FOCUS THAILAND
SPECIAL
REPORT
In 2016, The Thai fishery industry resumed growth for the first
time in four years, thanks toanumber of factors.Among themwere
Thailand’s upgraded status to Tier 2Watch List, fromTier 3, which
directly helped improve our image and confidence toward Thai
exports, inparticular,fisheryproducts (oneofThaiproducts thathave
beencloselymonitoredduespecifically tocertain labor issues).Other
factors included our success in tackling the shrimp EMS disease
outbreak, increased tuna supplies globally after leading countries in
marine fishery bolstered the size of their fishing fleets and because
of major Thai investments into countries with abundant fishery
resources.
In 2017, KResearch believes that Thailand’s fishery product
exports to the US - our largest fishery product export market - will
grow for thesecondyear, supportedbya recovery inour shrimpand
canned tunaexports,and the fact that labor issues in theThai fishery
industry have not worsened since 2016, given our status at Tier 2
WatchList. Since theTIPReport does not in itself involveany trade
intervention,anydirect impactonThai fisheryproductexportsshould
beminimal.AsmoreThai shrimp supplieswill enter themarket from
May to June, it is expected that Thai fishery product exports to the
US will have grown 3.0-5.0% to some USD 1.417-1.445 billion in
2017, whichwould bring our full-year fishery product export growth
to2.5-4.0% to aroundUSD 5.790-5.875 billion.
US IUUFishingRegulationsPresentaChallenge for
Thai Fishery IndustryAhead
Lookingahead,Thai fisheryproduct producersmaybepenalizedby
additional measures to be announced by the US to prevent Illegal,
Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing, and seafood fraud, or
labeling that donot correctlycorrespondwith theproducts inside the
packaging,which isscheduled tobecomeeffective inJanuary2018.
Tocomplywith this regulation, importersofmarineproducts
1
sourced
from US and non-US territorial waters are required to adopt a
traceability program, which involves data collections on sourcing
throughout their supply chains.
Weat KResearchareof theview that our keyfisheryshipments,
for instanceshrimp,willbeexempted from the IUURegulation initially
because the USwants to help their own shrimp industry. But once
TIPReport2017
Table1
Valueof Thai FisheryProduct Exports (Unit: USDMillion)
Source:
Ministry of Commerce compiled byKResearch
2016
5M16
2017f
Export Value toUS
Growth (%YoY)
Share (%)
Total Export Value
Growth (%YoY)
1,376
7.2
24.4
5,649
2.9
483
1.6
21.9
2,206
4.8
1,417-1,445
3.0-5.0
24.4-24.6
5,790-5,875
2.5-4.0
USshrimp raiserscanadjust to the IUU regulation, it isexpected that
this regulation will be enforced on other fishery products, too.
Meanwhile, Thai tuna exports to the US should not be adversely
affectedmuchby this regulationbecausemajorThai tunacompanies
haveabusinesspresence in theUS.However, ithasbeen found that
severalsupermarkets in theUShave introducednew rulesonseafood
imports, including manufacturing standard certifications issued by
the relevant authorities of exporting nations on shrimp products.
Moreover, canned tunaprocessors inexportingnationsmust comply
with the traceability program standards if they want to sell their
products inUSWholeFoodsMarkets.
Therefore, the remaining time until then should be a good
opportunity for Thai operators to make advance preparations,
beginning with adopting a traceability program involving data
collectionsonsourcesand thesettingoffisherystandards throughout
their supplychains.ThiseffortwouldalsohelpThai fisheryoperators
to cope with EU IUURegulation - an issue that must bemonitored
closely ahead. The EU has extended an official warning or “yellow
card” toThailand since 2015.
