Unfazed by unrest, Japan's Nissin invests Bt1.2 bn in noodle plant

Chief executive officer Koki Ando said that as a Japanese investor, the company had no concern about the current political problem in Thailand. Despite the previous negative factors in Thailand such as the massive flood and past political unrest, the Kingdom’s economy has continued to expand. Confident that Thailand will continue this legacy, the company decided to continue its investment in the Kingdom.
Its new plant in Navanakorn Industrial Estate has started with two-line production of Nissin brand noodles and will be expanded to eight lines by 2015.
“This is the largest investment in a plant in our 20-year history. In 1994, we formed a 50:50 joint venture with Saha Group to set up our first plant for Nissin instant noodles in Thailand,” Ando said.
He said Japanese investors still viewed Thailand’s market as valuable to their business strategies when compared with other countries in the region. Thailand and Japan have a good relationship. Asean in the future will be a progressive market and has tremendous opportunity for business expansion.
The company chose Navanakorn for the new plant because of the industrial estate’s proactive measures for flood prevention, including a 20-kilometre-long concrete barrage.
Ando said the implementation of Asean Economic Community by the end of 2015 would allow the region to become a single market with a combined population of more than 600 million. As a result, the company has become more interested in penetrating the instant-noodle market in the region with the use of its facilities in Thailand as a production hub for export.
“Our Navanakorn factory will be responsible for exporting Nissin instant noodles to particular markets, such as Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia. The company has seen an opportunity to expand into Myanmar, Indonesia and Vietnam. For Thailand, we expect to have about 10 per cent of the local instant-noodle market by 2015,” he said.
Previously, many Japanese investors have expanded into Thailand. Kagome, a leading manufacturer of condiments, foods and beverages, has set up a joint-venture plant for vegetable and fruit juice, including tomato juice, via a joint venture with Osotspa and Itochu Trading. Big Japanese retailer Lawson has also formed a joint venture with Saha Group in developing a convenience store chain, Lawson 108, in Thailand and will later expand into other markets in the region.
In addition, Mitsubishi Financial UFJ Group, the No 1 bank in Japan, has acquired major stakes in Bank of Ayudhya. Aeon Group in Japan has also announced its return to the retail market in Thailand.