Export drive for Thai 'product champions'

Nuntawan Sakuntanaga, director-general of the Commerce Ministry’s International Trade Promotion Department, said promoting these “champions” would increase sales of Thai products through many brands.

Under this project, the department will select high-potential products and industries to promote as product champions without specifying brands or trademarks. The aim is to create a good image for “made in Thailand” products and encourage more sales worldwide.

Products such as rice bran, rice bran oil, rice crackers, rice noodles, and brown rice juice have great potential for increased exports as consumers become more health-conscious. Rice is known as a high-nutrition food, and many of its by-products have great potential for higher sales in many countries in Asia, Europe and North America, Nuntawan said.

The wellness industry is also being promoted as a product champion as Thai enterprises in this field have high expertise. It includes healthcare and medical services, spas, and cosmetic products.

To promote these two product champions – rice products and wellness – the department will allocate budgets to advertise them in foreign media, international TV channels such as CNN and the British Broadcasting Corp, in various airways’ magazines, on billboards, and on the Internet.

It will also promote the products by providing information about their strengths to consumers in particular markets such as in Milan in Italy, Frankfurt in Germany, Kunming in China, and New York in the United States.

Other potential “product champions” that the department will promote are jewellery and ornaments, kitchenware and home decorative items, auto parts, construction materials, and digital content and animation.