Srithai unveils billion-baht investments

President Sanan Ungubolkul said about Bt700 million of that would be allocated to new moulds and machinery for the production of plastic packaging at its factory in Amata City Industrial Estate.
The remaining Bt300 million will be for expansion in overseas markets, including Vietnam, India and Laos. The company plans to spend about Bt200 million setting up a factory in Vietnam to produce plastic packaging for beverage products.
“However, we will reduce the production capacity for parts at the same Amata City factory for supply to automobile, motorcycle and electrical-appliance manufacturers by about 50 per cent next year because of the higher cost of labour. Our parts production will be totally terminated by 2013,” Sanan said. He said the factory’s production line for parts currently employed about 200 workers.
“We foresee a more serious labour shortage next year,” Sanan said.
He said the total production capacity for parts, which has business value of about Bt650 million, will be transferred to the expansion of its plastic-packaging production.
Sanan said the company would increase the business contribution from plastic packaging from 20 per cent currently to 50 per cent within the next two years.
“We are quite optimistic about Thailand’s economy next year. The government has launched many stimulus measures to recover the local industrial sector as quickly as possible. We are also confident that foreign investors will not move their factories from Thailand to other countries,” he said.
Sanan said the company had received many new orders for plastic pallets from its customers that have factories in flooded industrial estates. He added that orders for plastic packaging from other clients also continued to increase.
Srithai Superware yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding with Truyts Import of the Netherlands to co-develop melamine products under the Truyts Import by Superware brand to supply hotels, restaurants and catering channels all over the world.
“This strategic partnership will provide a new business opportunity for Srithai to expand our melamine products to new channels in Europe. Meanwhile, our partner Truyts Import will be able to expand its business through our network in more than 100 countries,” Sanan said.
He said the co-branded melamine products would be produced at Srithai’s factory in Thailand. Truyts Import will distribute the products to hotels, restaurants and catering firms in the Netherlands and other countries in Europe. Srithai itself will distribute the products in other markets around the world. Sales are expected to reach Bt120 million by next year.
Srithai Superware expects Bt6.55 billion in sales this year, about Bt150 million below its earlier projection. Because of the floods, the company could not deliver automotive and electrical-appliance parts to its customers, particularly those in the flooded industrial estates.
The company also could not deliver its melamine tableware products to dealers in the Central region, both in Bangkok and its suburbs.