Head of the Thai Fisheries Department Chalermchai Suwannarak (Photo: Voice-TV) Bangkok (VNA) – Thailand willimport over 10,500 tonnes of sea shrimps this year to ease a shortage atprocessing plants under a decision made on August 8 at the firstmeeting of the shrimp board with 21 members representing the Government as well as shrimp farmers andprocessors.
Head of the Fisheries Department ChalermchaiSuwannarak said since domesticproduction failed to meet demand from processors for export, the board decidedto allow the import of 10,501 tonnes of shrimp from Ecuador and India this year.
About 42tonnes of shrimp have been imported since the department approved shipments onJune 10.
The board has targeted domestic production of 320,000 tonnesof white shrimp this year, rising to 400,000 tonnes next year.
This year, Thailand had produced 138,733 tonnes of shrimp up to the end of July, including 129,100tonnes of Pacific white shrimp and 9,632 tonnes of black tiger prawns,Chalermchai said.
Thailand now has about 30,000 shrimp farms covering 96,000 ha,according to the Federation of Thai Aquaculture. However, it confirmed thatproduction has dropped to 250,000-350,000 tonnes per year due to persistentoutbreaks of early mortality syndrome (EMS)./.
