Charoen Pokphand Foods has taken advantage of the zero-tariff provision of the Thailand-New Zealand Free-Trade Agreement to import fully cooked greenshell mussels, a well-known product of New Zealand, to test the market for it here. Other goods will be imported later making use of the bilateral tax privilege.
CP Foods is also looking to export mussel products to Singapore by December and potentially to other countries such as China, South Korea and Japan if they are found to be successful in Thailand.
The import of these products came about through cooperation between the New Zealand Embassy in Bangkok and CP Foods. At first, the company will import 10 tons of the product to test the market, offering it in a special package under the CP brand. It will be directly exported to Singapore from New Zealand under CP brand as well.
In exchange, New Zealand will import CP Foods' ready-to-eat products including shrimp wonton, tom yum noodle and wonton shrimp and pad Thai kung (Thai-style fried noodle with shrimp) in December. The products will be sold at Foodstuffs supermarkets there.
Vittavat Tantivess, CPF executive vice president for the food business unit (branded products), said the imported products would be sold through the company's 600 Fresh Mart shops nationwide. However, it is a pilot project, and only 10 tons of goods will be brought in to test market demand.
