Siam Kubota targets 10% sales boost on export gains 

To drive its business growth, the company says it will use the Kubota Agri Solutions (KAS) strategy to help the Thai farming sector move towards an “Agriculture 4.0” platform, as it can help farmers deal effectively with all challenges. 
Siam Kubota president Hiroto Kimura said the firm posted total sales of Bt50 billion in the 2016 business year, a 4-per-cent increase year on year, of which Bt27 billion came from the Thai market while export markets contributed Bt23 billion. 
The increase was helped by a continuous rise in sales in overseas markets. It is expected that total sales this year will increase by 10 per cent. 
In addition to Thailand, Siam Kubota has commenced operations in and exported to Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar. Of these, Myanmar posted the highest growth because of major factors such as large areas of cultivated land, large agricultural markets, and farmers expecting to use modern machinery, along with a large number of agricultural households. 
Agricultural machinery that is popular in these three markets includes power tillers, diesel engines, tractors and combine harvesters. The firm has developed sales and service networks in those countries. At the same time, it is identifying and working with local financial partners to assist buyers with limited funds to increase private ownership of Kubota products. New and modern machinery is also being introduced in these markets with specifications that suit the various crops popular among farmers. 
Kimura said Siam Kubota and its Japanese parent, Kubota Corp, had formed a 20:80 joint venture in Myanmar.
This year the company plans to introduce new harvesting machines that have been developed to substitute for farmers’ heavy reliance on manual workers during harvest season. 
In addition, Siam Kubota will leverage agricultural knowledge and solutions to support its marketing this year with the aim of promoting higher use of machinery on farms. These factors will help local farmers to reduce costs while achieving higher productivity, thereby allowing Thai agriculture to develop in a sustainable direction, senior executive vice president Opart Dhanvarjor said. 
He said Kubota Agri Solutions were aimed at taking Thai agriculture to a new level by way of dual application of the company’s agricultural-machinery innovations and innovative farming techniques. This offered Thai farmers added precision and consistency, starting from changing from single-crop to multi-crop farming.