The year 2010 has been marked the golden year for Thai shrimps as price hikes up due to the bleak period of shrimp scarcity.

Indonesia, the world’s largest shrimp producer is currently facing the Infectious Myonecrosis Virus (IMN) in shrimp production, according to the President of the Thai Shrimp Association, Somsak Paneetatyasai. He stated that the emerging disease caused 40% reduction of gross shrimp production in Indonesia, while the freezing weather in China had made the country unable to raise sufficient amounts of shrimps. The two factors resulted in increasing shrimp orders from Thailand at around 1,000 tons per month.

US exporters have constantly ordered shrimps from Thailand as the country was the main shrimp supplier to the US, said Mr Somsak. The shrimp export value for the year 2009 was reported at 187,635 tons or 3.68% higher compared to the previous year.

Due to the mentioned threats, Mr Somsak indicated the price may shoot up in 2010. The higher shrimp demand will enhance new marketing opportunities for the shrimp industry in Thailand. However, a serious measure is needed in prevention of the IMN disease from entering the country's shrimp production.