Thailand’s Richest Family Considers Setting Up U.S. Shrimp Farm

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Thailand’s billionaire Chearavanont-family is considering setting up a shrimp farm in the U.S., as President Donald Trump’s administration tries to curb America’s reliance on seafood imports.

The agro-industrial arm of the family’s conglomerate, Charoen Pokphand Group, said it’s looking at several potential locations, including Florida, as well as other sites less prone to hurricanes.

“It’s an important project for us,” Prasit Boondoungprasert, chief executive officer of Charoen Pokphand Foods Pcl, said in an interview. “We sent a team to go live there, study the market and the law, and find a suitable location.”

As much as 95% of seafood consumed in the U.S. is imported, leading to a trade shortfall of more than $16 billion. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has prioritized the expansion of U.S. aquaculture under the Trump administration’s focus on narrowing deficits.

“The U.S. government really wants this to happen because it wants to create local jobs,” Prasit said in his office in Bangkok on March 2.

The pilot shrimp farm project could be finalized by 2021, and more expansion may follow, he said.

CP Foods’ exports range from meat to frozen foods, and shrimp is among its most important categories. Last year, the value of the company’s shrimp exports to the U.S. doubled, Prasit said.

In 2016, CP Foods acquired Bellisio Foods Inc., maker of Chili’s At Home and Boston Market frozen foods, for about $1.1 billion as a platform to enter the U.S. market.

The Charoen Pokphand Group conglomerate spans food, retail and telecommunications, putting the Chearavanonts among Asia’s richest families with wealth of about $38 billion.

To contact the reporters on this story: Siraphob Thanthong-Knight in Bangkok at rthanthongkn@bloomberg.net;Anuchit Nguyen in Bangkok at anguyen@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Sunil Jagtiani at sjagtiani@bloomberg.net, Yumi Teso

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