Rittirong Boonmechote, president of TU’s global shrimp business unit, said the group’s revenues from the shrimp business were expected to grow from US$1.4 billion (about Bt45 billion) last year to $1.5 billion this year, and to $2.6 billion by 2020. As the group expands more overseas, revenues from its businesses in Thailand are expected to drop from 40 per cent of the total to 30 per cent by 2020.

Of the total incremental revenues targeted for the next four years, about Bt60 billion will come from organic growth of its existing businesses, while the rest will come from M&A and new businesses, he said.

Shrimp contributes about 27 per cent of TU’s total revenues at present. The growth plan for the shrimp business is in line with the global seafood group’s challenging goal to double its total revenue to $8 billion by 2020.

Rittirong said Thai Union, which last month announced a deal to acquire a 40-per-cent interest in Avanti Feeds’ wholly owned shrimp-processing unit Avanti Frozen Foods Private Ltd in India for 1.254 billion rupees (about Bt660 billion), was studying possibilities of expanding to Indonesia, Bangladesh and other countries.

“About 70 to 80 per cent of the world’s shrimp-production bases are in Asia. Today we have [a presence in] Thailand and India. We are also looking at other countries,” he said.

After the completion of its new factory this June, Avanti is likely to boost its total shrimp-processing capacity from 30-40 tonnes a day currently to 80-100 tonnes per day next year, making it one of the top three shrimp processors in India, while tripling its annual revenue from between $30 million and $40 million to $100 million next year.

Besides the feed, processing and hatchery businesses, TU |is gearing up to expand its |marketing and distribution channels and will introduce a new brand for its frozen shrimp products in the Thai market, together with the launch of |its seafood e-commerce plat|form around the middle of this year.

Rittirong said TU’s international shrimp business had outpaced the size of its domestic business partly because of the outstanding performance of its US subsidiary Chicken of the Sea Frozen Foods, which has taken the market No 1 spot for frozen shrimp and pasteurised blue crab in the United States.

US shrimp prices have stabilised so far this year, after tumbling 22 per cent in 2015.

The group will capitalise on the strong marketing network of Chicken of the Sea to move up its positions in the snow-crab, salmon and lobster markets there, he said.

However, TU’s shrimp sales to the European Union last |year fell to 4.7 per cent of the group’s total shrimp exports, from more than 10 per cent previously, because of a cut in the Generalised System of Preferences.

Meanwhile, Rittirong said the government and private sectors should cooperate to establish |a national hatchery centre that would require total investment of Bt500 million in a bid to strengthen research and development after a disease halved shrimp output to just over 200,000 tonnes last year.