Briefs

The 25th edition of “ProPak Asia” will take place from June 14-17 at the Bangkok International Trade and Exhibition Centre (Bitec), and its organisers say it will be 25 per cent bigger than before.
ProPak Asia is the region’s No 1 international processing and packaging trade event. The show takes place in Bangkok every year but it is a regional event attracting visitors from across Asia who visit the show to meet world-leading companies, see the latest machines, technology and services, and learn from industry events.
Thailand is one of the world’s biggest food and drink producers, Asia is one of the main producing regions, and ProPak Asia has been supporting their growth since it first launched in 1989, its organisers say.
This year’s event will host more than 2,000 exhibitors from more than 45 countries with 19 international pavilions. Targeted trade value is Bt29 billion from the four-day event.
The show has strong support from international associations including the Australian Packaging and Processing Machinery Association, the Australian Institute of Packaging, the Cambodia Association of Food Science and Technology, the China World Trade Centre, the Confederation of Danish Industry, Business France, and Germany’s Atelier Scherer Fair Consulting GmbH.

Toyota Motor Europe sales up 11% in Q1

Toyota Motor Europe (TME) reported first-quarter sales of 269,000 Toyota and Lexus vehicles, an increase of 11 per cent on the same period in 2016.
The market share for the group increased by 0.2 percentage point to 5 per cent.
Sales of Toyota’s hybrid vehicles grew by 50 per cent year on year to 106,000 units.
Hybrids now represent nearly 40 per cent of TME’s total sales, and close to 50 per cent in Western Europe.
The successful launch of the Toyota C-HR crossover led the way for the strong start to 2017, the company says.
“The European market performed well in the first quarter of the year and our performance was even stronger,” said Dr Johan van Zyl, president and chief executive of TME. “Our hybrid line-up of 15 Toyota and Lexus models, the largest in the automotive sector, drove this double-digit sales increase.
“Almost 40 per cent of our sales are now hybrids, showing European drivers’ affinity with our hybrid technology. I expect 2017 to be a very good year for Toyota.”

Prasarana eyes development of Brunei metro system

Prasarana Malaysia is eyeing the Brunei market on the possibility of developing a metro network system there, said its president and group chief executive officer Azmi Abdul Aziz.
“The Brunei government has invited us to participate in how we can introduce a public transport system ... We are proposing something to advise the government on this matter to bring the level of public transport up in the country,” he said.
“We are making this proposal and will let the government there decide on how to move forward,” he added.
On a similar note, the Malaysian bus and metro transit operator said it was targeting to derive some 15-30 per cent of its revenue from non-fare activities.
“These include also foreign-based revenues,” Azmi said.
In a related development, Prasarana said it had bid for metro projects in India and Saudi Arabia and expected to know the results of these bids soon.
“In India, we have bid for the Mumbai Monorail, while in Saudi Arabia, there are two projects we are bidding for – in Riyadh and Jeddah,” Azmi said.
Prasarana’s existing overseas ventures include the maintenance and operation services contract with Saudi Arabia’s Makkah Metro Southern Line. The contract is in its third year. – The Star