Thai, Brazilian firms urged on investments
BRAZILIAN enterprises are looking to expand their investment in Thailand - in the areas of alternative energy and processed agricultural products, in particular - while the South American country is encouraging Thai investors to expand their interests the
During his visit to Thailand yesterday for the “Brazil-Thailand Business Talk on New Perspective in Agricultural Trade and Investment”, the country’s agriculture and livestock minister, Blairo Borges Maggi, said that as agriculture-based countries, Thailand and Brazil could forge closer cooperation in promoting agricultural products and production.
Moreover, Brazil could be an investment base for Thai enterprises wishing to penetrate Latin America, while the country also foresees Thailand serving as a trading centre and investment base for Brazilian businesses seeking to penetrate Asean, he said.
The main businesses in which Brazilian investors are looking to expand in the Kingdom are in alternative energy and processed agricultural products.
Brazil would also like to attract investment from Thailand in many sectors, the minister said, adding that Thai enterprises had great investment potential in agricultural and livestock production.
Meanwhile, Brazil is developing its logistics and infrastructure system to facilitate more foreign direct investment, Maggi said.
Maggi added that as Brazil had extensive experience and potential in ethanol production, while Thailand still lacked such technology, the two countries could form a joint venture in the business, while Brazil also had the potential to supply many agricultural products – such as soybean, maize and aquaculture products – for processing in Thailand.
While the current bilateral direct-investment figures for Thailand and Brazil are still small, some Brazilian businesses have already invested here, most notably in the areas of processed food and aircraft. The minister said Thai investors had a greater opportunity to expand their business in Brazil due to the huge size of the market in a country with more than 240 million people – as well as plenty of agricultural plantation areas.
Isara Vongkusolkit, chairman of the Board of Trade of Thailand and the Thai Chamber of Commerce, said Brazil was certainly an emerging country offering good potential for Thai enterprises to expand their business, particularly as there was extensive agricultural activity there.
However, there are still some obstacles to investing in the largest South American market, including distance and language, with most Brazilians speaking Portuguese, he told yesterday’s event.
Isara, who is also chairman of Mitr Phol Sugar Corp, said his company had in the past identified such barriers to investment opportunity in sugar-related business in Brazil, but Thai and Brazilian investors could forge closer operation in other businesses such as in feed meal and bio-pesticides, as Brazil benefited from hi-tech development in these sectors.
Atcharin Pattanapunchai, deputy secretary-general of the Board of Investment, said Thailand and Brazil could form closer ties in the processing of food and farm products, as well as in fruit juices and livestock.
Moreover, as Thai enterprises are strong in the field of hotel operation and management – and more widely in the tourism industry – and Brazil is a major tourism destination, they could expand their investment there, she said.
