The government has waived the duty for chicken butchery up to now.

Poj Aramwattananon, vice chairman of the Board of Trade of Thailand, said yesterday that the nine associations urged the government to reveal some details of the act so that all actors in the supply chain – including small and large chicken farmers and feeders, slaughterhouses, butcheries, traders and exporters – as well as consumers can be assured that they will not be impacted by the higher financial burden.

The bill is now under consideration by the National Legislative Assembly.

Poj said that if the law is enforced, the price of chicken will increase by Bt3.20-Bt3.50 per kilogram. The price of chicken at the farm gate is Bt65 per kilo.

It will also encourage chicken breeders to use illegal slaughterhouses more rather than legal, high-standard slaughterhouses, which could cause problems with the sanitation of chicken meat.

The requirement of a butchery duty will also create difficulties for Thai chicken exports, as most rivals, including Brazil, China and Malaysia, do not collect the duty, while the Philippines collects only one satang per chicken.

Kukrit Arepagorn, manager of the Thai Broiler Processing Exporters Association, said Thai chicken exports could face tougher growth with the higher financial burden from the collection of a butchery duty that others don’t have, while the price of Thai chicken is slightly higher than rivals.

Low growth expected

After Brexit – the vote for the United Kingdom to exit the European Union – Thai chicken exports could see small growth due to the weakening of the euro, while the UK is a larger market for Thai chicken exports among the EU countries.

For this year, Thai chicken exports are expected to grow only 2-3 per cent to 700,000 tonnes worth Bt91 billion, from Bt88 billion last year.

The small export growth was due to EU customers calling for Thai chicken exporters to lower prices as the euro is sinking.

Thai chicken shipments to the EU and UK could also be impacted in the future, as Thai chicken has a quota for about 270,000 tonnes in the EU market each year.

About half of the chicken has been exported to the UK.

Veerapong Panchauathanakul, president of the Chicken Raisers Association, said everyone involved in the chicken industry would be impacted by the new act, as businesses will incur higher expenses and need to pass them on to consumers.

Each week, about 30 million chickens are killed – 60 per cent for domestic supply and the rest for export. The chicken industry is worth about Bt300 billion. it employs about two million workers.

Tawin Apidejthanarak, a chicken farmer from Chaiyaphum, said small chicken farmers may need to go out of business if they have to face a higher financial burden and tougher competitiveness in the market.