In the last few
years, the frozen fish industry has grown phenomenally.
There was major competition in the purchase
of raw materials. Hence the small and medium
sized enterprises (SMEs) needed more working
capital. But banks and financial institutions
stopped giving new loans. The result was some
of the SMEs had to cut down on production capacity
while others who were in serious financial difficulties
had to close down. In spite of this, the overall
capacity utilization of the industry in 2000
was 70%.
The main anchor
of Thai frozen seafood products are shrimp,
fish and squid. There is no difficulty in procuring
shrimp because it can be farmed. Hence it is
the largest in production. But other seafood
like fishes etc. depend on natural catching.
There is uncertainty in getting raw material
because of external raw material because of
external factors like the weather.
Over 90% of frozen
seafood is exported. The competition is stiff
because both local and foreign exporters are
players in this market. The market conditions
depend upon demand and supply. There are only
a few countries who are economically sound and
comprise of the buyer's market. On the other
hand, many countries are into production.
Thailand's most
important competitors are Indonesia, China and
Ecuador. These countries have an edge over Thailand
as there are larger fisheries and lower wage
rates. In spite of this Thailand leads because
it has a very sound basic infrastructure. Good
raw material and their transportation to the
manufacturing plants is done in a smooth manner.
Apart from this, there is also skilled labor
which automatically leads to quality product.
There are not
many producers of frozen fish in the global
market. Hence competition here is not very stiff.
Moreover the Thai frozen fish industry maintains
its international standard by creating value
added products, superior product quality and
processing raw material from less developed
countries and reprocessing it with the help
of Thai production skills.
Frozen seafood
which include frozen shrimp, frozen squid and
frozen fish nets in over 10 billion year for
Thailand. We find that frozen seafood exports
during the last 9 years has grown steadily at
an average annual rate of 1.87% volume and 9.77%
in value. But sometimes there is inadequate
supply of raw material both locally as well
as from Indonesia which is a joint venture with
Thailand. China is the biggest buyer of Thai
frozen fish followed by Japan, Taiwan and Saudi
Arabia.
Frozen fish meat
consisting of Surimi and fillets is exported
to Japan, the major export market. Then there
are the Asian countries, the US and the EU and
the Australia. The surimi producing fishes are
the Bigeye fish and the Drumfish which come
from the Thai coast.
The Thai frozen
fish industry has a bright future in spite of
the economic clump which has hit Japan and the
U.S. and is predicted to be short lived.
Similarly in
Europe, the frozen fish industry is struggling
to keep up with consumer demand. The laws governing
production and distribution have tightened.
As consumers have become more and more health
conscious, the producers have to be extra cautious.
For price
quotes and any further information, feel free
to call us today at:
Siam
Canadian Foods Co., Ltd.
9th Floor, Suite 283/44, Home Place Office Building.
283 Thonglor 13, Sukhumvit 55
Kongton Nua, Wattana, Bangkok 10110,
THAILAND
Call us at +66-2-185-3311
Fax: +66-2-185-3317
Email us at info@siamcanadian.com
