EU 'unlikely to withdraw' yellow card in December

The 28-member EU was earlier supposed to review Thailand’s status this month after having given six months – since April this year – to solve the IUU problems. However, the review was recently postponed to the end of this year.

Given the various legal and other measures taken by Thai authorities and the time-consuming process of effective implementation, it is likely that the yellow card will stay for another six months, according to sources.

Another scenario is that the yellow card will be withdrawn in December if the EU is satisfied with the measures taken by Thailand.

Over the past six months, Thai fishery exporters have faced some impacts from enforcement of the stringent rules on fishing practices, resulting in a shortage of raw materials and a slight drop in export sales.

 

Industry optimistic

However, the industry is optimistic, expecting the hard work done so far to solve the IUU problems to bear fruit with the removal of the EU yellow card so that business may return to normal soon.

Poj Aramwattananont, president of Thai Frozen Foods Association, said Thai authorities are heading in the right direction and the EU is expected to withdraw the yellow card soon.

Over the past several months, global demand for seafood has also slowed due to the sluggish economy.

“In the past several months, none of the EU firms have banned or reduced imports from Thailand. Thai companies have tried to create good understanding and show our buyers that we’re taking action to follow good labour and other practices,” Poj said, adding the industry will enjoy a more sustainable growth path once IUU problems are solved.

According to Commerce Ministry and Customs Department figures, Thai shipments of preserved and prepared fish and fishery products to the EU dropped 6.18 per cent in the first eight months of this year to US$14.8 billion. The EU is Thailand’s fourth-largest market for fishery products after Asean, the United States, and Japan. Exports to the EU accounted by 10.29 per cent of the Kingdom’s total shipment value.

Last year, exports of fishery products to the EU rose 4.36 per cent to $23.66 billion.

Thai fishery exports totalled $144.86 billion in the first eight months of this year, which was down by 5.01 per cent. Last year, total Thai fishery exports were worth $229 billion, down 0.42 per cent year on year.

Nopporn Thepsithar, chairman of Thai National Shippers Council, said if the government and private enterprises continued to work with the EU to combat illegal fishing activities and promoted sustainable practices, it was highly unlikely the EU would impose a ban by issuing Thailand a red card.

 

Adequate efforts being made

He said the private sector remained optimistic, as there were ongoing efforts to counter such issues, which are linked to human trafficking, and the Kingdom is in the process of enforcing laws to improve the protection of labour in the fishery industry in a more sustainable way.

Not only have large enterprises already adjusted themselves, but even small and medium-sized fishing boats and related fishery industrial enterprises have also learnt to adapt themselves to do fishing in a more environmentally friendly manner.

Commerce Minister Apiradi Tantraporn hopes the EU will see the results of the government’s efforts and the private sector’s cooperation and there should be no sanctions on Thai fishery products shipped to their market. 

Pornsilp Patchrintanakul, adviser to the Board of Trade of Thailand, said the yellow card has been seen as an opportunity to move forward the Thai fishing industry towards more sustainable fisheries management and conservation of marine resources. 

He expected the EU to withdraw the yellow card warning on Thai fishing in December, as Thailand has been solving the IUU problems seriously.

Among the measures already implemented are enactment of laws and regulations for registration of all big and small fishing vessels, foreign labour in fishing industry, vessel monitoring system and port-in-port-out requirement for vessels of over 30 tonnes.