Malaysia’s import ban pushes Thai shrimp industry to brink

Thai shrimp farmers have warned they face being driven out of business after Malaysia banned imports of five shrimp species over apparent safety concerns, as the industry also grapples with disease outbreaks, rising competition and renewed US tariff threats.Malaysia issued a temporary ban on June 1, also tightening import requirements for Thai sea bass. The move was a gut punch for Thailand’s seafood industry, which exports 10,000 tonnes of shrimp across its southern border each year.Bangkok has warned it may escalate the dispute to the World Trade Organization if talks fail to swiftly resolve an impasse that has frozen trade worth tens of millions of US dollars and pushed thousands of farmers in Thailand’s south to the brink.Piles of dried shrimp and prawns are seen for sale with other small crustaceans and fish at Tha Tian market in Bangkok. Photo: AFPMalaysia’s fisheries department director general, Adnan Hussain, said on Monday that his country was awaiting a response from Thai authorities on questions over export quality. “Once we receive the response, we will assess whether it meets Malaysia’s biosecurity requirements,” he told Bernama, the state news agency.