Prasit Chalongchaichan, a senior official of CPF Merchandising, said that it was the first lot and more will follow thanks to overwhelming orders.

According to The Nation, he expected that about 80,000-100,000 tonnes of frozen chicken from Thailand would be exported to Japan this year.

Japan imposed the frozen chicken import ban late in 2003 after some incidences of bird flu were found in Thailand in the fourth quarter; a major outbreak was confirmed in early 2004.

The safety of Thailand’s poultry has again been in focus since another outbreak in 2008, but it now has been declared free of the disease.

In 2004, Thailand exported about 200,000 tonnes of frozen chicken to the country.

"Thailand should be able to ship about 5,000 tonnes in the first quarter. It should take a few years before we can achieve the pre-band export volume," he said.

The first lot came from the closed farm in Nakhon Ratchasima.