The board has targeted domestic production of 320,000 tonnes of white shrimp this year, rising to 400,000 tonnes next year. This year, Thailand has produced 138,733 tonnes of shrimp up to the end of July – 129,100 tonnes of Pacific white shrimp and 9,632 tonnes of black tiger prawns, Chalermchai said. He said his association members would focus on processing shrimps for export so their imports would not affect domestic shrimp prices. Thailand now has about 30,000 shrimp farms covering 600,000 rai of land, according to the Federation of Thai Aquaculture. However, it confirms that production has dropped to 250,000-350,000 tonnes per year due to persistent outbreaks of early mortality syndrome (EMS).
