V Foods looks to increase revenue from AEC market
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V FOODS CO is considering several business models for entering the regional food and beverage market to cash in on the full implementation of Asean Economic Community in three to five years.
“We want to become a player in fast-moving consumer goods, focusing on food and beverages, such as vegetables, fruits and ready-to-eat foods, in Asean,” Apirak Kosayodhin, chairman and chief executive of V Foods (Thailand), said yesterday.
The AEC kicks off at the end of this year.
The company expects to increase its annual revenues from about Bt400 million targeted for this year to more than Bt1 billion in three years.
It has several options for penetrating the regional market, including brand licensing and joint ventures with vendors of products and brands.
Apirak, a former Bangkok governor who returned to the F&B business about a year ago, said Thailand would still make the largest contribution to the com-pany’s revenue – more than 90 |per cent next year. However, under its business plan, the Asean market’s contribution will increase sharply to 20-30 per cent in three to five years.
V Foods at the beginning of this month signed a 10-year partnership deal with Dao Heuang Group, a major Laotian company specialising in coffee. V Foods is licensed to manufacture and distribute Dao canned coffee in Thailand and Asean, starting from the CLMV (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam) market.
The company yesterday launched Dao canned coffee in Thailand with the aim to create a new “premium mass” segment in the Bt11-billion canned-coffee market, which grew by 3.6 per cent last year.
A 190-millilitre can of Dao coffee retails for Bt15. About Bt100 million has been spent by V Foods in launching a campaign to build awareness of the brand, including giving away a million samples.
“We expect to achieve Bt300 million in sales of Dao canned coffee this year and to be one of the top three players in Thailand’s ready-to-drink canned-coffee market within three years with 10 per cent of the market,” he said.
Ajinomoto’s Birdy brand is now the market leader, controlling about 70 per cent, followed by Nestle’s Nescafe with less than 30 per cent, he said.
V Foods has appointed Durbell, a subsidiary of Krating Daeng Group, to distribute its products to more than 300,000 retail outlets throughout the country, including traditional shops, convenience stores, supermarkets and hypermarkets.
