Siam Cement Group pouring in investments to strengthen business
SIAM CEMENT GROUP (SCG), is looking at expansions big time, and hopes to double its number of employees by 2026, with half based in Asean, outside Thailand.
One of Thailand's industrial conglomerates, it has pursued an Asean strategy with notable success in three businesses: construction materials, petrochemical and packaging.
The group has just announced plans to invest up to S$7.7 billion in a petrochemical complex in Vietnam under a joint venture with Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam).
“The petrochemical complex in Vietnam will be among the largest investments in Asean for SCG,” said president and chief executive Roongrote Rangsiyopash, 53.
Roongrote said SCG will expand domestically and overseas with new investments and via mergers and acquisitions.
At the end of last year, SCG had assets in Asean worth Bt126.05 billion, or about 23 per cent of its total asset value. It reported that revenue from its businesses in and exports to Asean totalled Bt97.66 billion.
The group expects its sales in Asean to rise significantly with its cement plant in Myanmar and its packaging paper plant in Vietnam recently starting commercial production, the CEO said. The Myanmar cement plant has production capacity of 1.8 million tonnes per year, while the annual capacity of the Vietnam paper plant is 243,000 tonnes.
“Although this year will have business risks from rising costs due to higher oil prices and unpredictable impacts on the global economy from the policies of the new US president, we are confident our business will maintain growth, as we have a strategy to balance our portfolio in the domestic and Asean markets,” Roongrote said.
Last year, the group estimated that about 15,000 of its 50,000 employees were located outside Thailand, with in Asean. It expected the overall number to increase to 100,000 by 2026, with half serving in Asean countries, outside Thailand.
