http://www.bangkokpost.com/Business/03Jun2008_biz48.php

Labour report hits shrimp orders in US

PHUSADEE ARUNMAS

Shrimp orders from the United States be delayed in the future, as US importers are likely to wait until US officials and activists conclude their findings on alleged forced labour in the Thai shrimp industry, warn Thai exporters.

Officials from the Homeland Security Department, and representatives from International Labor Organisation (ILO) and non-governmental organisations yesterday began a 12-day investigation if working conditions in the Thai shrimp industry.

The trip will include visits to selected shrimp processing plants and peeling factories in Samut Sakhon, Samut Prakan and Rayong. The results of the investigation are expected to be released shortly afterward.

Poj Aramwattananont, president of the Thai Frozen Foods Association, said that following allegations of abuses of foreign workers by the Thai shrimp industry, US importers had been delaying their orders for Thai shrimp, leading to a price slump.

Vannamei shrimp yesterday were being quoted at 108 baht for a kilogramme containing 50 shrimp, a sharp drop from 130 baht last month.Adirek Sripratak, the president and chief executive officer of Charoen Pokphand Foods Plc (CPF), Thailand's largest food exporter, met with Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej yesterday and urged him to explain Thailand's position clearly to US officials, foreign embassies and NGOs.

A report released in April by the US NGO Solidarity Center, titled ''The True Cost of Shrimp,'' interviewed workers in the shrimp-processing industry in Thailand and Bangladesh . It said it had discovered child labour, human trafficking, debt bondage and forced labour.

The Thai shrimp industry was rife with abuse by brokers and smugglers of migrant workers, mostly from Burma , Laos and Cambodia , it said.

Thailand is the world's top shrimp producer and the number-one source of shrimp for the United States . Shipments to the US represent 50% of Thailand 's exports estimated at about 300,000 tonnes this year compared with 320,000 tonnes in 2007.