Smuggled chicken discovery hints at Cambodian shortages amid Thai border row

Plastic bags stuffed with rotting chicken from a smugglers’ boat washed ashore in Thailand have hinted at shortages inside Cambodia, as formal trade between the neighbours has collapsed amid their border conflict and illicit cargo flows surge instead. While demand appears high for smuggled Thai oil, fruit, meat and consumer items like soap, the Cambodian public is maintaining a boycott of Thai businesses in a nationalist backlash that reveals the depth of the enmity now staining relations between the neighbours and erstwhile trading partners. The two countries blame each other for reviving a dormant dispute last year over where their 800km (500-mile) border lies. Bloody clashes that erupted in July killed scores of soldiers and civilians on both sides, resulting in the land border being closed to goods and people. A fragile ceasefire has just about held but the land border remains shut despite recent overtures from Cambodia to reopen it. With both nations pinched by the global fuel crisis, Thai authorities say sea smuggling, including of fuel, has spiked, prompting more naval patrols. Last Sunday, a putrid smell emanating from the mangrove-lined shoreline in the Hat Lek area of Trat – Thailand’s eastern coastal province closest to Cambodia and a sea route for smugglers – pointed to the growing need inside Cambodia. Navy officers discovered rotting chicken spilling from a boat that had run aground a week earlier, after smugglers fled a Thai marine patrol. Five Cambodian boats had been intercepted in what authorities called a “significant smuggling operation”, netting hundreds of boxes of contraband chicken, fruit and even cannabis destined for Cambodia. Six suspects were arrested after jumping overboard in a botched escape bid. Each had been paid just 2,000 baht (US$62) for the trip, the navy said. “Most of the seized goods were everyday consumer products and daily necessities,” Captain Wutthichat Ratcharattanarak, deputy director of the Thai Maritime Enforcement Command Centre in Trat, told reporters. “We suspect that the situation over there [in Cambodia] must be quite difficult.” Cambodian customs data published this week showed cross-border trade with Thailand had slumped nearly 40 per cent to around US$700 million in the first quarter of this year compared with the same period in 2025. The government has promised jobs to hundreds of thousands of migrant workers who have returned home from Thailand since the conflict began – workers who previously earned double or triple domestic wages in Thai restaurants, on building sites and aboard fishing vessels. Cambodia is now facing a steep drop in remittances, which appears likely to continue as it seeks new overseas labour markets for its workers. In addition to the border row, Cambodia’s economy is taking a pummelling from the oil crisis, which has pushed pump prices up by about 25 per cent and forced the government to spend tens of millions of dollars on importing fuel. Thailand’s economy has also been affected by the Iran war and the throttling of the Strait of Hormuz. Still, ordinary Cambodians enraged by what they see as Thai aggression over a border drawn by French colonialists have made their feelings known by boycotting Thai products and brands. At Aeon Mall – Cambodia’s largest shopping centre – a gaping space on the outside hoarding last month marked where “Major Cineplex” signage once hung. The Thai chain shut its operations in Cambodia earlier this year as audiences shrivelled in the wake of the war. The cinema has reopened under local ownership as Sabay Cinema. Even Mama noodles – Thailand’s market-leading instant noodle brand – have fallen out of favour, as well as made-in-Thailand milk, with Vietnamese firm Vinamilk appearing to fill the gap in the dairy aisle. Cafe Amazon, the once-ubiquitous Thai brand, has shut most of its outlets in Cambodia or stripped back streetside advertising as the consumer backlash bites into sales. Outside one Amazon branch in Phnom Penh – its distinctive parakeet logo covered by a board – Apich Leang, 35, told This Week in Asia last month that if customers went there “we give them bad looks”. “I stopped eating Mama even, which is hard as it is my favourite brand,” he said. “But we don’t hate Thai people, we just have to support our economy and country in any way we can.” The rupture between the neighbours now means government and news websites are blocked on both sides without a VPN, while Thais and Cambodians bait each other online over the origin of cultural symbols, from clothing to temples. But in a time of larger global crises, some are questioning the wisdom of local squabbles with neighbours. “It’s a waste of time,” said Seng, a barman who gave only one name. “Countries that go to war normally do it because they have no other ways to help fix the problems of their people.”

Smuggled chicken discovery hints at Cambodian shortages amid Thai border row

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The Cambodian public is maintaining a boycott of Thai businesses even as the country’s economy is reeling from the global fuel crisis

The Cambodian public is maintaining a boycott of Thai businesses even as the country’s economy is reeling from the global fuel crisis