Thailand’s US$7 billion fishing industry sinks as Iran war hits fuel costs

A man on a truck brings the ice that keeps the catch fresh.

Photo: Aidan Jones A dawn gloom hangs over the pier in Bangsaray, eastern Thailand, as buyers arrive to wait for the first fishing boats to return.

But like everyone else relying on the day’s catch they have already lost money to someone else’s war.

Thailand’s multibillion-dollar fishing industry has been brought to its knees by the runaway price of diesel, a result of Iran’s throttling of the Strait of Hormuz in response to the US and Israel’s attacks.

Half of the kingdom’s vast fishing fleet is already docked, according to the National Fisheries Association of Thailand, which warns that without government intervention the remainder will soon follow: a potential cataclysm for a sector employing hundreds of thousands, from deep-sea fishers to high-end restaurants.

But the mini-economy on Bangsaray pier, Chonburi province, is staggering on, for now – even as US President Donald Trump vacillates over the next steps in a war he started.

Fishermen at a pier in Chonburi, Thailand.

Photo: Aidan Jones Boat owners say they are shouldering the record cost of the diesel required to power the fleet, which last week pushed beyond 45 baht (US$1.38) a litre, more than 30 per cent higher than pre-war levels.

And they still have salaries to pay.

The middlemen who drive between the piers to buy catch for sale at market said that inflated transport costs had withered profit margins to around US$1 per kilogram of fish.

Even the delivery companies providing the ice that keeps the fish fresh for restaurants and wholesalers are struggling to break even.

With the Iran war pushing the price of a barrel of benchmark Brent crude beyond US$100, the cost of simply filling up a truck with fuel has become prohibitive. “We can’t leave out boats at dock, wages have to be paid either way,” said small-boat owner Udom Jittanom, surrounded by crates brimming with squid so fresh that their cells still flushed red in a final flicker of life. “So we keep going out, selling what we catch and hoping fuel costs come down.

But raising prices?

No chance, the middlemen won’t hear it.

They pass their costs on to consumers.

We just have to absorb it.” The buyers on the pier rejected that equation, claiming they were equally squeezed by restaurants whose customers demand seafood but stay at home when prices rise.

A man on a truck brings the ice that keeps the catch fresh.

Photo: Aidan Jones Thailand is one of the world’s leadin

原文链接: 南华早报