CUSTOMERS have begun threatening to boycott the Scots company which controversially announced plans to ship langoustine to Thailand on a 12,000-mile round trip.

They have written to Young's Seafood with concerns about the environmental impact of the journey, with some saying they would consider refusing to buy its products as a result of the decision. It comes after the company revealed that it would send langoustine for scampi to the Far East for hand-peeling instead of having the process carried out by machine at its facility in Annan, Dumfries and Galloway. Now the director of scampi for Young's has spoken out amid fears that the langoustine industry will suffer and claimed that estimates on CO 2emissions had been "grossly exaggerated".

Mike Mitchell said that instead of the reported 47,500 tonnes of emissions, shipping the langoustines to Thailand and back would produce around 200 tonnes, the same as 50 vehicles over the course of a year.

He said: "At last count, we have had contact from 147 consumers, most of whom were concerned about the fact that it was affecting the environment. Most of the consumers were critical about what we are planning to do and some said they would boycott. We fully understand that they are concerned on the numbers they have been given, but they are a gross exaggeration. We will be shipping between 400 and 600 tonnes a year to Thailand which is between 190 and 200 tonnes of emissions.

"It concerns Young's that the Scottish langoustine industry is getting some really bad press. There is good news about Scottish langoustine and we should be supporting that."

The langoustine industry is the UK's most important fishery, worth around GBP200m a year and employing around 9000 people in Scotland.

The Annan factory is the UK's largest breaded scampi facility and, until now, langoustines have been deshelled on the premises by machines. However, research has shown that 70-per cent of people think that hand-peeling produces langoustine which are sweeter and have a better texture.

The company has said "prohibitive" costs in the UK mean it is cheaper to have that part of the process carried out in the Far East. However, environmentalists had raised concerns about the "carbon footprint" of the return journeys between Thailand and Scotland, blaming the "madness of globalisation" for the decision.

Last night Duncan McLaren, chief executive of Friends of the Earth Scotland, said 200 tonnes of CO 2emissions still had a negative environmental impact.

He said: "There are still additional emissions. It is not a big amount, but it is the principle of unnecessary emissions that is at stake. Often the problem is that when one company starts doing something because it generates savings, the others are forced to do it too. Every decision that leads to emissions going up tends to be a small, single decision, but if everyone justifies their individual decisions we will suffer catastrophically." Mr Mitchell insisted the company was working on how to further reduce emissions and pointed out that in Thailand the shells would be reused by being put into fish meal.

He added: "We are also working with a company which can turn it into dye to use in Chinese medicine. That will give more income to the economy locally in Thailand.

"We take our social and environmental responsibilities very seriously and we will continue to work to look at how we can further reduce emissions."