With demand for melamine and plastic packaging sluggish at home, SET-listed Srithai Superware, a leading melamine manufacturer, has shifted to investing in the overseas market this year.
Sanan Ungubolkul, the company's chairman and president, said Srithai will not invest in Thailand this year because it has not seen any improvement in consumer purchasing power here in the first quarter.
Purchase orders for many categories of products fell in line with sluggish performance in the beverage and industrial parts industries, he said.
"The company would rather focus on expanding business in Vietnam, where GDP growth is relatively high," said Mr Sanan. "Vietnam's GDP grew by 6.8% in 2018 and the growth rate is expected to stay at the same level this year because of continuously increasing foreign direct investment, particularly in the electronics and garment sectors."
He said the retail and beer industries are growing fast in Vietnam, creating huge demand for melamine and plastic packaging and closures.
The company will spend about 80 million baht to install new machines and moulds at its closures factory in Hanoi this year.
Srithai set up a preform and closure factory in Hanoi three years ago. The factory had sales of 370 million baht in 2018. Sales are forecast to increase to 570 million baht after new machines are installed this year.
The company also plans to allocate US$700,000 (22.2 million baht) to increase the production capacity of melamine and plastic packaging at its factory in Ho Chi Minh City.
In 2019, sales in Ho Chi Minh City are expected of about 2 billion baht, on par with last year's figures.
In addition to Vietnam, the company also plans to spend 50 million baht to install 60 new machines to double production capacity in India next year. Production capacity figures have not been disclosed.
"Competition in India is very fierce, leading to price dumping. But there is still room to grow because of a large population," Mr Sanan said.
He said the company will explore novel opportunities with new clients by applying varied pricing strategies and developing more valuable products.
The company recently joined with a partner in Japan to develop unique plates for sushi restaurants.
Srithai has developed a microchip embedded in the sushi plates that will calculate the calories in each dish and has the capability to detect food freshness.
Moreover, with the microchip, customers can pay via e-payment, which helps reduce human error.
In the domestic market, the company has restructured its management to become leaner.
Srithai expects sales this year to increase by 3% to 98.8 billion baht. Of the total, about 80% will be from the domestic market and the remaining 20% from exports.
.png?w=600)
