Charoen Pokphand Foods Pcl, Thailand’s largest meat and animal feed producer, said yesterday its business was booming, especially after it was approached by McDonald’s Holding Co (Japan) to supply chicken products after a food scare in China.

Strong demand for exports, especially from Japan and Russia, had boosted domestic meat prices and that could help the company post revenue growth of 15 per cent this year, higher than its target of 10 per cent, said president and CEO Adirek Sripratak.

McDonald’s has said it has shifted business to Thailand

“We have received orders from McDonald’s. Strong demand for exports helped push up chicken prices and the company will move orders from the domestic spot market to export to customers,” he told said in an interview.

Some regional companies including Japanese firms have turned to Thailand to supply chicken after Shanghai Husi Food, a unit of US-based OSI Group LLC, was accused in a TV report of having improperly handled meat and using expired food.

McDonald’s has said it had shifted business to Thailand, boosting purchases from existing suppliers McKey Foods Services (Thailand) Ltd, a unit of Keystone Foods, and Cargill Thailand.

“The industry is short of supply and we’ve got a full order book now as people are asking us to accelerate our shipping after the China food scare,” Adirek said.

CPF has also been contacted by companies in Russia to supply meat products after the country banned imported meat from the EU, the US and other countries, he said.

“Russia is very keen to buy chicken from us. They contact us every day and they want to secure food supplies,” Adirek said, although he would give no detail on the value of orders.

CPF, owned by billionaire Dhanin Chearvanond’s Charoen Pokphand Group, is looking for opportunities to buy assets in high-growth emerging markets to achieve its annual revenue growth of 10-15 per cent in the next five years, Adirek said.