Oishi to import green tea
Oishi Group has subcontracted manufacturers in Japan, Taiwan and Singapore to produce green tea to prevent any product shortages in the local market, as its own factory in Ayutthaya was incapacitated by the flood.
“We expect that about 60 per cent of our Nava Nakorn plant will be restored by March. And the rehabilitation process will be completed and the factory will start operating again by August,” president Matthew Kichodhan said yesterday.
Oishi Group expects its total sales this year to dive from the Bt11-billion target to between Bt9 billion and Bt9.5 billion after two-thirds of its production capacity for food and beverages was wiped out by the flood on October 14.
The company will import Oishi green tea back to Thailand to ensure sufficient supplies, especially during the summer, which is the peak season for sales of that beverage.
“We will absorb all cost increases without any price hike on our Oishi green tea,” he said.
The market absorbs more than 60 million bottles of Oishi green tea each month. All Oishi green tea in the market now is coming from the company’s other plant in Amata Nakorn Industrial Estate, which can churn out only 15 million bottles a month. Oishi Group yesterday held a Big Cleaning Day at its Nava Nakorn factory, as the flood waters have subsided and the factory is ready to be rehabilitated.
“The floods have damaged our cold aseptic filling system for UHT [ultra-high-temperature processing] packages, which was on the ground flood of the facility. The total damage to the Nava Nakorn factory is estimated at about Bt2.8 billion, with Bt900 million extra for the import of new a filling machine,” he said.
However, the company had bought more than Bt4 billion in insurance coverage for natural disasters at the Nava Nakorn factory, he said.
