Tesco to up imports from Thailand to Bt13.5 bn

The company also plans to set up at least 300 new stores in Thailand this year.
Tesco Lotus chief executive officer John Christie said he was very positive on the company’s growth in Thailand, as the country has strong economic growth. At the same time, to improve trade ties with Thailand, Tesco imports many products from the Kingdom.
Christie said that of the projected imports worth at least Bt13.5 billion from Thailand to the UK this year, major products would be shrimp and fresh and processed fruits.
Last year, the company imported Bt12.5 billion worth of Thai products to Britain.
Christie said that after the European Union allows import of fresh chicken from Thailand this July, Tesco was expected to import more Thai poultry to its outlets this year.
To promote the sale of Thai fruits in Britain, Tesco in cooperation with the International Trade Promotion Department of the Thai Commerce Ministry has organised the “Taste of Thailand” promotion at its stores every year. This year, the event ran in more than 200 Tesco stores in the United Kingdom.
Christie said Thailand had high potential as a source of fresh and high-quality produce. Tesco imports foods and products from Thailand not only to serve its customers in the UK market, but 13 other markets across Asia and Central Europe.
He added that the company was confident of growing along with the Thai economy. Although the government plans to enact a retail business law to regulate hypermarket expansion, the firm will continue its investment in the Kingdom.
The retail business could expand to serve the country’s growth, he stressed.
Tesco says it plans to set up 250 Express outlets, 50 supermarkets, and 10 Extra and hypermarkets in Thailand this year. It will need to employ at least 4,400 new staff to serve its expansion.
Currently, Tesco employs 38,395 people in Thailand. It now has 1,093 outlets in the country.
In addition, Tesco is considering opening an online shopping business in Thailand for the first time in Asean in the next three years to serve the strong growth of the retail industry in the Kingdom.
Chris May, manager of Tesco’s “dot-com only” store in London’s Greenford area, said that since the first online business was launched in the British capital in 2000, the company had continuously enhanced the online shopping experience to respond to changing customer behaviour.
“Online business has experienced strong growth of 10-20 per cent a year as the behaviour of customer changed, while customers want to save fuel and time by choosing online shopping,” May explained.
Today, Tesco online serves more than 25,000 customers a day in London. Online services also have more products than normal shops: Tesco offers about 125,000 stock-keeping units for customers who shop online.
To set up a new warehouse for online service, the company must invest at least ?