Tesco ‘stays committed to Kingdom’

Lewis met with Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak on Tuesday during a visit to Thailand to discuss the group’s plans to continue its investments here and intention to raise the standards of the Thai fresh-food supply chain, while supporting farmers and small and medium-sized enterprises.
“Tesco Group is confident in the strong fundamentals and resilience of the Thai economy,” he said. 
“We are committed to continuing our investment in Thailand to better serve our customers here. This includes new store openings and expanding our online channels, which enable customers to access high-quality products at low prices. 
“Our investments in lowering prices will also help customers save on their costs of living.
“In addition, a significant amount of investment will be spent on revolutionising the entire fresh-food supply chain in Thailand to elevate quality and safety standards. 
“By working very closely with local farmers on crop planning and using a market-led approach, we hope to be able to generate secured income streams for farmers. The end-to-end improvement will also include more efficient transportation that will keep produce fresh, thereby reducing food waste. 
“The fresh-food revolution will benefit all involved, as it will mean lower operational costs, more income and almost zero loss for farmers, and better quality, safety and prices for our customers,” Lewis said.
“Thailand is a strategic market for Tesco Group. Tesco Lotus currently is the group’s largest business outside of the United Kingdom. We serve more than 15 million customers each week and employ over 60,000 full-time staff. Tesco Group is committed to continuing our investment in Thailand and has no plans to change the ownership structure of Tesco Lotus,” he added.
“We will continue to expand and [are] looking into increasing investment from around Bt10 billion per year over the past few years.” 
Since the start of its 2016 fiscal year in March, Tesco had opened 54 retail stores by August, of which four were Tesco Lotus hypermarkets, four Talad, and the remaining 46 Express stores.

Hamper campaign
Salinla Seehaphan, corporate affairs director at Tesco Lotus, said that as part of its seasonal campaign this year, the company had a variety of New Year hampers. 
This year, customers will be able to purchase “Tesco Finest” hampers, which contain imported products of the finest quality from around the world, with prices starting at Bt1,499, she said. 
“We have also worked with the Interior Ministry in a Pracha Rath project to offer Otop products in hand-woven baskets with the starting price of Bt1,299. 
“To support rice farmers, we are also offering organic jasmine rice ‘Rice Buddy’ hampers at the price of Bt299. The rice is milled and packaged by the farmers who use Tesco Lotus as their major distribution channel,” she said.