Seleco snack brand prepared to expand Asean exports

The company expects to triple the contribution of exports to its income by 2015.

Managing director Wanlop Pichpongsa said Capital Trading started exporting its Seleco seaweed snacks a couple of years ago. It currently has distributors in Malaysia, Myanmar and Singapore. 

“We are negotiating with potential distributors in Cambodia, Vietnam and Indonesia. The talks will be finalised within the next three months,” he said.

Wanlop said the expansion of Seleco into new markets in Asean was in line with the company’s strategic plan for higher penetration of the region and to cash in on the Asean Economic Community, which will be fully effective in 2015. It will allow the company 

to export its seaweed snacks from Thailand without any import tariffs or other trade barriers. 

The company currently faces import duties of 5-20 per cent in the Asean markets it serves.

“We expect to increase our export contribution from Seleco seaweed snacks from 10 per cent currently to 20 per cent next year and up to 30 per cent in 2015,” Wanlop said.

Capital Trading plans to refurbish its Seleco brand with the target of increasing its share in Thailand’s Bt2-billion seaweed-snack market from 17 per cent currently to 20 per cent within the next two or three years, he said.

The overall seaweed-snack market in Thailand comprises two major segments, fried and roasted, which represent 60 per cent and 40 per cent of the market respectively. The market is anticipated to increase by 11 per cent this year.

“By refreshing the brand, we want to maintain our strength as a healthy snack brand that serves kids and health-conscious consumers, especially new office workers,” Wanlop said. 

The company’s strategy is to focus on introducing new product innovations to the market.

“The increase in the minimum wage to Bt300 in April has affected our labour costs. We intend to replace some of our workers with automated facilities, such as roasting and packaging machines, this year,” he said.

Wanlop, 38, is the second generation of the Pichpongsa family who jointly set up STC Group 1974, together with the related Vanichjakvong and Pichetpongsa families, starting with the export of agricultural products from Thailand.

Capital Trading is the marketing arm of STC Group. Its main businesses include distribution of rice and some other products to the domestic market. The company is also a trading agent and sole distributor of various products manufactured locally for export. With good connections with wholesalers, retailers, modern-trade outlets and suppliers, the company is recognised as an efficient distributor and trader in the food and agricultural businesses.

Graduating with a bachelor’s degree in economics from Chulalongkorn University in 1995 and a master’s in rural development from the University of East Anglia, UK, in 1997, Wanlop started his career working on the staff of a non-governmental organisation for three and a half years. He returned to the family business in 2001 as a management trainee and took charge of the rice-export business. 

Wanlop started to look after the Seleco business last year as managing director of Capital Trading.

Capital Trading posted more than Bt900 million in sales last year, of which 50 per cent was from the rice business and the rest from the snack business. 

The company expects to see total sales of more than Bt1.2 billion by 2015.