Of the total, processed chicken products will make up 160,033 tonnes and the remaining 92,610 tonnes are for salted poultry. The quota of 92,610 tonnes for salted-chicken is higher than current quota of 60,620 tonnes per year.

The EU also announced it would allocate a total global quota of 250,953 tonnes for cooked poultry and 264,245 tonnes for salted poultry.  As the biggest chicken-products exporter, the allocation brings Thailand share to about 50 per cent of the EU's total import quota.

Thailand will benefit from a reduced in-quota tariff rate of 8 per cent (down from 10.9 per cent). Exports in addition to the quota will pay a tariff of ¤1,024 (Bt48,000) per tonne. From 2003-2005, Thai exports of cooked poultry to the EU averaged 80,570 tonnes per annum.

For salted poultry, the out-of-quota rate will be ¤1,300 per tonne while the in-quota tariff rate remains unchanged at 15.4 per cent. Thai exports of uncooked poultry products to the EU were suspended three years ago due to the prevalence of avian influenza in Thailand.

The results came out after two days of negotiations ended on Thursday between Thailand's Trade Negotiations Department and the European Commission in Bangkok.

"This agreement represents a balanced deal for both sides," said Ambassador Dr Friedrich Hamburger, head of the delegation of the European Commission to Thailand.

"The agreed quota provides a substantial margin for the growth of Thai cooked poultry exports. Thailand will also benefit from reduced in-quota tariff rates. The EU on the other hand has been able to streamline its system of tariff levels for poultry products," the ambassador said.

Chutima Bunyapraphasara, director-general of the Trade Negotiations Department, said yesterday that although Thailand will gain a lower quota than exporters' requirements, the volume is larger than figures accounted from the EU's modality.

Some 160,033 tonnes of export quota came from an export growth of 34 per cent a year. The EU has planned to give a 10-per-cent rise in quota for the volume of chicken exports, with cumulative effect for the last three years. As a result, Thailand will gain 117,200 tonnes for processed-chicken exports.

"Exporters said they are quite satisfied with the result. The tariff rate is better than the EU's announcement," Chutima said.

The agreement was finalised after the third meeting during the two-day negotiations, which ended on Thursday.

The agreement will be implemented in March next year, after the quota allocation is approved by EU member states and the Thai government.

The EU announcement to impose new quotas and tariff rates for poultry products was made under World Trade Organisation regulations. The EU said the quotas aim to protect its domestic manufacturers from being flooded with cheap imports.

Previously, Thai chicken exporters claimed that the new tariff charge would hit Thai cooked chicken the hardest as the EU is the Kingdom's second-biggest export market, after Japan.

Thai chicken exports to the EU account for 40 per cent of overall exports. Cooked chicken exports to the EU grew 23.38 per cent to US$315.1 million (Bt11.5 billion) in the first 10 months this year. Thailand's export volume to the EU reached 106,545 tonnes last year.

Thailand's total chicken exports are targeted to exceed 200,000 tonnes this year.

Petchanet Pratruangkrai

The Nation