Thai shrimps gain from RI problems

Thai shrimps gain from RI problems

BANGKOK (Reuters): Thailand, the world's top shrimp exporter, stands to benefit from the problems faced by the shrimp farming industry in competitor Indonesia, industry sources said yesterday.

Analysts said that Indonesia's world market share may have fallen to around five percent from 20 percent since last November-December because of a sharp drop in production as its currency crisis made it expensive to import feed.

Indonesia has been the world's third largest exporter.

India, the world's second biggest exporter, would make inroads into the lucrative Japanese market where Indonesia had a foothold previously, analysts said.

But Thailand stood to fill the vacuum created in other Indonesian markets for medium-sized shrimp such as Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan, analysts said

The United States, which bought 38,000 tons of Thai shrimp last year, will remain Thailand's major shrimp buyer, they said.