Thailand To Become Asia’s Biggest Food Distribution Center

BANGKOK, April 25 (TNA) - The government is developing Thailand into an Asian biggest trade and distribution center for food products. Nanthawan Sakuntanak, Director-General of the Thai Ministry of Commerce's Department of International Trade Promotion, confirmed the policy on Tuesday, acknowledging to achieve the goal, the government, through her ministry, is also hurriedly promoting Thai food products in emerging markets, especially in Southeast Asia, China, India, Russia and Africa, in lieu of traditional major, but now downturning, overseas markets. Nanthawan said that Thai food exports have been increasing, as the government has kept improving their standards and actively promoting them globally. Nanthawan reported that the value of Thai food exports has amounted to more than 28 billion US dollars annually so far and should exceed 30 billion US dollars this year, or by 10-12 per cent year-on-year growth, noting that the value of Thai rice exports alone has amounted to over 6.5 billion US dollars annually on average; while the value of Thai prawn exports have exceeded 3.5 billion US dollars yearly. However, according to the senior official, Thai rice exports dropped in the first quarter of this year, compared to those in the same period of last year, which might affect the value of overall Thai food exports throughout this year. The senior official said that there has been promising demand for Thai fresh and processed seafood products on the world market, and that her ministry believes Thailand can reach its targeted export growth rate of some 15 per cent this year. Meanwhile, the Commerce Ministry and the Thai Chamber of Commerce will jointly organize the World of Food Asia 2012 Fair at the Impact Trade and Exhibition Center in Muang Thong Thani on the outskirts of Bangkok from May 23-27, which should attract nearly 100,000 visitors and generate overall revenues of over 13 billion baht, as over 1,000 food and beverage manufacturers and food technology and service providers will take part in the five-day fair. (TNA)