Thai firms told to eye life-end service segment

Malee Choklumlerd, director-general to the International Trade Promotion Department, said the Thai Trade Office in Tokyo had reported that the life-end industry was booming in Japan in line with the country’s ageing population.
Malee said in Japan in 2000, the number of deaths was about 1 million, and would increase to 1.43 million in 2020.

Increase in demand
The higher number of deaths had resulted in high demand, the director general said, for products aimed at services for when people die.
Malee urged Thais to recognise the benefits of the life-end industry in the Kingdom and penetrate it.
According to the Yano Research Institute, the industry in Japan is projected to be worth Bt590 billion this year, an increase of 0.3 per cent on 2015.
The industry’s value is hitched to products that include funeral services, transportation and pet funerals.
“The life-end industry also includes asset management, consultant agencies for heritage, medical and nursing services, |tomb reservations, flower decorations and souvenirs,” Malee explained.
“Each family will have to spend about Bt650,000 per household [on average].”
She said the great opportunities for Thai enterprises in the segment included clothing, shrines, fresh flowers, pet clothing, coffins, and souvenirs.
Malee said that Japanese had changed their attitudes and had modern mindset about preparing for death.
Thai firms should present their ideas and products to serve this niche market as a new trading channels, she said.