THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
nationthailand

3 categories seen as rising stars for Otop exports

3 categories seen as rising stars for Otop exports

The Office of Knowledge Management and Development (OKMD) yesterday unveiled the results of a study on demand trends for One Tambon One Product (Otop) goods in Thailand and overseas.

The office said the research – the first of its kind in Thailand – had found three product categories which were "rising stars" in terms of having the highest demand from overseas buyers: processed foods and beverages; utensils, decorative items and souvenirs; and cloth, apparel and accessories.

OKMD executive director Apichart Prasert said processed foods and beverages were in highest demand in Germany and United States, while Japan was the biggest market for utensils, decorative items and souvenirs, and Singapore for cloth, apparel and accessories.

The study found health snacks to be the most popular product in Germany and the US in terms of Thai foods and beverages produced by local communities under the government’s Otop scheme.

Nuntaporn Aungatichart, the Thailand Productivity Institute research and development manager, who undertook the OKMD survey, said that among the popular health snacks in the two markets were organic rice, crispy vegetables, processed fruits, Thai-style sauces such as chilli sauce and chicken sauce, and health drinks such as concentrated juices, health tea, and ready-to-drink beverages.

"Surprisingly, Germans like nam jim kai and other Thai-style sauces," she said.

Of the roughly 70,000 Otop enterprises registered with the Interior Ministry’s Community Development Department, only about 10,000 have been given the "5-star" rating, and just 5,687 enterprises are exporters, which together generate more than Bt10 billion annually in foreign revenue for the country.

Most Otop export items are concentrated in the cloth, apparel and accessories category, and export sales have been growing by just 1.8 per cent per annum, the study found.

Thriving in home market

Meanwhile, Otop products have been expanding strongly in the domestic market, at an annual rate of 12-13 per cent during the past couple of years, she said.

Moreover, Nuntaporn said her institute had found only 93 Otop enterprises that met its criteria of being a creative or "developing creative" venture.

The OKMD study also found there were six ministries that had allocated budgets specifically for promoting and developing Otop products, totalling Bt1.7 billion last year.

The Interior Ministry had the largest budget for Otop work, followed by the Industry Ministry.

Sirichai Lertsirimit, president of the Thai Gifts, Premiums and Decorative Association, said nature and saving the planet were among the most popular trends in the world market at present.

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