Shrimp producer sets sights on organic market

With the support of foreign partners, Thailand's leading organic shrimp producer and exporter, Sureerath Farm, is ready to expand and process shrimp for the overseas and domestic markets.

Founder Prayoon Hongrat said that the company set up Sureerath Frozen Organic Prawn Co and would build a new production plant on 1,500 rai of farmland to produce about 3,000 tonnes of finished organic shrimp per year. The farm would use approximately 4,000 tonnes of raw shrimp.

Mr Prayoon thought the company would have difficulty producing enough organic shrimp to meet strong demand. So to increase supply, Sureerath Farm formed the Eastern Organic Prawn Alliance together with 14 other shrimp raisers in Chanthaburi to produce organic shrimp for the export market.

He expects that the new body could help triple organic certified shrimp production in Thailand over the next three years.

The expansion would move Sureerath, located in Chanthaburi, from a raw commodity seller to a processed food supplier under the brand SOP.

According to Mr Prayoon, Sureerath became a partner with Blueyou, an independent Swiss consulting company that provides international market access and promotes organic food.

''Being in the farming business for 20 years, we were never concerned about building a brand. Forming a partnership with Blueyou allows us to strengthen our SOP brand,'' he said.

Sureerath Farm started exporting organic black tiger prawns to Switzerland and Germany last year through the support of Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GTZ), a non-profit organisation that promotes sustainable development.

GTZ is also assisting Sureerath Farm in developing a sustainable business model to increase organic shrimp production.

Sureerath Farm is Thailand's first organic shrimp farm to receive the Naturland certificate, which is widely known and accepted in Europe.

Thailand is expected to be able to produce 200 tonnes of organically certified shrimp in 2008 from Sureerath Farm alone.

Although most of the output is targeted for export, the company's organic shrimp have been also marketed at Tops supermarkets since October 2007 but sales volume remains small at only about 200 kilogrammes a month.

The company plans to also sell its products at Villa Supermarkets and Gourmet Market at Siam Paragon.

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Shrimp producer sets sights on organic market