King Pac Industrial(KPI), Asia's largest plastic-bag manufacturer, wants to become the world's leading plasticbag maket in the next five years and to develop the country's first industrial estate for the plastics sector.
KPI was established in 2000 and is 100-per-cent owned by the Julasaksrisakul family. The company manufactures various types of plastic bags with a monthly production capacity of 8,000 tonnes. It exports to markets around the world including Japan, Europe and the United States.
Pattida Julasksrisakul, assistant managing director and the owner's daughter, said the firm previously focused only on international markets, but changed its strategy to begin marketing in Thailand last vear following the impact of the global economic crisis and an increase in its production capacity.
"In only one year, the make-up of our sales has changed to 65 per cent exports and 35 per cent domestic sales. This success is due to our position as the leading source of bags for plastic-bag users," she said.
To achieve its five-year goal, it plans to make aggressive investments and list on the Stock Exchange of Thailand to mobilise funds. It presently has registered capital of Bt200 million.
"If we want to be the world's number one, we need to boost our production capacity to more than 18,000 tonnes per month, which will require around Bt1 billion for new machinery alone," she said.
KPI also has a plan to develop 700 to 800 rai of land in Chon Buri to be the country's first plastics industrial estate.
"Our idea is to create more bargaining power for local plastic-makers and strengthen them in terms of the supply chain and technology transfer.
"Forty per cent of the total area will be reserved for our company and the rest for other plastic-marker," she said.
"Our strength is that we have our own know-how, technology and innovative products. We are ready to transfer our know-how to local plastic goods-makers to develop their production process," Pattida said.
She said the firm allocated 1 per cent of its sales revenue every year to research and development. It generated total sales of Bt4.5 billion in 2008 and targets growth of 10 to 15 per cent in 2009.
KPI has set up a subsidiary, Dpac Industrial, to be responsible for trading and marketing in Thailand.
Despite the rapid growth of its domestic sales, KPI will maintain the proportion of its sales at 65 per cent from exports and 35 per cent from the domestic market, she added.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Local plastics producers optimistic
The outlook for the local plastics industry is improving in the second half of this year, thanks to demand for plastic packaging in the food and electronics industries, according to the Petroleum Institute of Thailand (PTIT).
According to the institute's research,plastic product growth contracted by 5% in the first half, reflecting poor purchasing power of consumers.
However, the study found that the trend in orders had started to rebound,said Kriengsak Wongpromrat, the assistant executive director of the PTIT.
Demand is rising for packaging for food, agricultural products and for hard disk drives but is sluggish among customers automotive, construction and electrical appliance industries.
"After declining continuously since the economic slowdown started (late last year), demand was steady early this month. That showed us the falling pace had stopped and may be starting to head upward this year, but this is hard to predict," said Mr Kriengsak.
Ready-to-eat food products have played a big role in lifting plastic demand, as more consumers cut expenses by eating more meals at home, he said.
"But [demand for packaging of] hard disk drives in the electronic sector has risen due to the global demand," he said.
Mr Kriengsak said that packaging businesses accounted for 40% of the local plastics industry, with 12% shared by electronics,7% by automobiles and parts, and 6% by construction materials.The total market was worth 370 billion baht last year with volume of 3.25 million tonnes.
PTIT, as an information service provider and researcher for the petroleum and related industries, was hired by the Office of Industrial Economics to collect data on the plastics sector. The aim is to better serve the demand of operators as well as develop the industry in the long term.
A total of 3,000 plastic and related industries out of 5,000 registered companies have participated by providing data to the institute. Major categories include 900 companies in packaging,followed by electronics, automobiles and construction materials.
Arthit Wuthikaro, the OIE directorgeneral, said the research would help operators gauge demand trends, such as for high-grade film products, which are now imported.
The OIE will join with the Board of Investment and other agencies to promote locally made film products through investment privileges, Mr Arthit said.
For the future, research will go toward the bioplastic industry, since concern about climate change is on the rise throughout the world.
According to the institute's research,plastic product growth contracted by 5% in the first half, reflecting poor purchasing power of consumers.
However, the study found that the trend in orders had started to rebound,said Kriengsak Wongpromrat, the assistant executive director of the PTIT.
Demand is rising for packaging for food, agricultural products and for hard disk drives but is sluggish among customers automotive, construction and electrical appliance industries.
"After declining continuously since the economic slowdown started (late last year), demand was steady early this month. That showed us the falling pace had stopped and may be starting to head upward this year, but this is hard to predict," said Mr Kriengsak.
Ready-to-eat food products have played a big role in lifting plastic demand, as more consumers cut expenses by eating more meals at home, he said.
"But [demand for packaging of] hard disk drives in the electronic sector has risen due to the global demand," he said.
Mr Kriengsak said that packaging businesses accounted for 40% of the local plastics industry, with 12% shared by electronics,7% by automobiles and parts, and 6% by construction materials.The total market was worth 370 billion baht last year with volume of 3.25 million tonnes.
PTIT, as an information service provider and researcher for the petroleum and related industries, was hired by the Office of Industrial Economics to collect data on the plastics sector. The aim is to better serve the demand of operators as well as develop the industry in the long term.
A total of 3,000 plastic and related industries out of 5,000 registered companies have participated by providing data to the institute. Major categories include 900 companies in packaging,followed by electronics, automobiles and construction materials.
Arthit Wuthikaro, the OIE directorgeneral, said the research would help operators gauge demand trends, such as for high-grade film products, which are now imported.
The OIE will join with the Board of Investment and other agencies to promote locally made film products through investment privileges, Mr Arthit said.
For the future, research will go toward the bioplastic industry, since concern about climate change is on the rise throughout the world.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Amcor offers $2 billion for Rio packager
Amcor Ltd of Australia offered yesterday to buy part of Rio Tinto Group's Alcan unit for US$2.03 billion to become the biggest supplier of drug packaging.
Amcor will get the global pharmaceuticals and tobacco packaging units as well as the Asian and European food businesses Rio acquired in its US$38 billion takeover of Alcan Inc in 2007.
"The offer will be funded by a A$1.6 billion (US$1.3 billion) share sale and bank debt," Amcor said in a statement.
The takeover, Amcor's biggest, will boost sales 50% and may arrest two years of declining profit. It will make Amcor the world's largest supplier of packaging to the pharmaceutical, healthcare and personal-care industries, and the biggest supplier for tobacco in Europe, according to Deutsche Bank AG.
"Amcor is paying between 5.5 and 5.7 times the units adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation for the past 12 months,"managing director Ken Mackenzie said.
Bemis Co paid 6.7 times earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation for Rio's Food Americas business last month.
"It's a pretty good price," said Jason Beddow, chief investment officer at Argo Investments Ltd, an Adelaide-based investment company."Everyone's always talked that packaging needs further consolidation; that's structurally probably a positive as well."
"Now is the right time in the economic cycle to be making acquisitions as asset values are substantially lower than they have been for many years," Mackenzie said.
The company's previous biggest purchase was the $1.5 billion takeover of the PET bottling and container lid business of Germany's Schmalbach-Lubeca AG in 2002.
"London-based Rio has agreed to a period of exclusivity with Amcor and will respond to the offer after consulting with the relevant European works councils," the company said.
"Amcor's offer is in the interests of all stakeholders," Rio's chief financial officer Guy Elliot said."The company is seeking to sell non-mining assets to cut debt that ballooned 19-fold after it bought Alcan."
Rio has also raised $2.5 billion this year from selling iron ore and potash assets in Latin America, a US coal mine and a share in a Chinese aluminium smelter. It has had $6.6 billion of asset sales in the last 18 months.
Amcor will add T.G.I. Friday's Skillet Meals and Sheba petfood to its existing packaging products, which include the packaging for Fishermans Friend throat lozenges and Gatorade sports drinks. It manufactures cans, plastic bags, icecream wrappers and sterile surgical instrument trays.
"Alcan Packaging remains the most obvious solution to Amcor's growth challenge, given the neat strategic and growth aspects that it would bring," Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc analysts wrote in a note on Monday.
Amcor is the world's largest producer of PET packaging and the unit accounted for 34% of sales in the year ended June 30. The flexibles unit, which manufactures packaging for food, hospital sterilisation units and tobacco, was the second biggest earner in the year.
The acquisition requires approval from anti-trust and competition authorities in the US and the EU.
Amcor will get the global pharmaceuticals and tobacco packaging units as well as the Asian and European food businesses Rio acquired in its US$38 billion takeover of Alcan Inc in 2007.
"The offer will be funded by a A$1.6 billion (US$1.3 billion) share sale and bank debt," Amcor said in a statement.
The takeover, Amcor's biggest, will boost sales 50% and may arrest two years of declining profit. It will make Amcor the world's largest supplier of packaging to the pharmaceutical, healthcare and personal-care industries, and the biggest supplier for tobacco in Europe, according to Deutsche Bank AG.
"Amcor is paying between 5.5 and 5.7 times the units adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation for the past 12 months,"managing director Ken Mackenzie said.
Bemis Co paid 6.7 times earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation for Rio's Food Americas business last month.
"It's a pretty good price," said Jason Beddow, chief investment officer at Argo Investments Ltd, an Adelaide-based investment company."Everyone's always talked that packaging needs further consolidation; that's structurally probably a positive as well."
"Now is the right time in the economic cycle to be making acquisitions as asset values are substantially lower than they have been for many years," Mackenzie said.
The company's previous biggest purchase was the $1.5 billion takeover of the PET bottling and container lid business of Germany's Schmalbach-Lubeca AG in 2002.
"London-based Rio has agreed to a period of exclusivity with Amcor and will respond to the offer after consulting with the relevant European works councils," the company said.
"Amcor's offer is in the interests of all stakeholders," Rio's chief financial officer Guy Elliot said."The company is seeking to sell non-mining assets to cut debt that ballooned 19-fold after it bought Alcan."
Rio has also raised $2.5 billion this year from selling iron ore and potash assets in Latin America, a US coal mine and a share in a Chinese aluminium smelter. It has had $6.6 billion of asset sales in the last 18 months.
Amcor will add T.G.I. Friday's Skillet Meals and Sheba petfood to its existing packaging products, which include the packaging for Fishermans Friend throat lozenges and Gatorade sports drinks. It manufactures cans, plastic bags, icecream wrappers and sterile surgical instrument trays.
"Alcan Packaging remains the most obvious solution to Amcor's growth challenge, given the neat strategic and growth aspects that it would bring," Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc analysts wrote in a note on Monday.
Amcor is the world's largest producer of PET packaging and the unit accounted for 34% of sales in the year ended June 30. The flexibles unit, which manufactures packaging for food, hospital sterilisation units and tobacco, was the second biggest earner in the year.
The acquisition requires approval from anti-trust and competition authorities in the US and the EU.
GREEN OUT OF THE BOX
BMA joins with Chao Koh producer to turn used UHT cartons into school desks and chairs.
By Walailak Keeratipipatpong
The growing consumption of drinks and liquid food has left behind a huge volume of UHT cartons, a nightmare for recyclers.According to the food industry's estimates on the consumption of readyto-drink and ready-to-cook products,about 3.8 billion cartons are discarded each year, representing 38,000 tonnes of waste.
Although paper makes up a major part of each carton, it is not fully degradable because 20% of it is made of plastic and 5% aluminium foil.
But the waste has value if it is recycled into chipboard to make furniture and student desks and chairs.
Each year, the used cartons can be processed into more than 1.5 million sets of student desks and chairs, since each set calls for an average of 2,500 cartons.
Turning used UHT cartons into chipboard is quite common in developed countries but in Thailand, the first concrete project was launched only 10 years ago by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration and Tetra Pak (Thailand)Co, a leader of food-processing and packaging solutions.
But many changes in BMA governors over the past years disrupted the policy.The shortfall of discarded boxes due to inefficient garbage collection also impeded the project. Tetra Pak, the world's biggest producer of the cartons,has therefore pursued the initiative on its own.
M.R. Sukhumbhand Paribatra, the Bangkok governor, however, used the occasion of the World Environmental Day on June 5 to launch the used-carton recycling project to produce desks and chairs for 435 schools under the supervision of BMA.
The project, in co-operation with Ampol Food Processing Co (APF), the processor of Chao Koh coconut milk, aims to encourage BMA students to return used UHT cartons of any kind of products to the company to be made into desks and chairs for their own schools.
The co-operation branched out from APF's existing project.
Kritsada Sopa, marketing manager of APF, said that the company had already invested 10 million baht to equip a recycling machine at its manufacturing plant in Nakhon Pathom for the purpose.
The investment is part of APF's Magic Box programme, which aims to collect 10 million used UHT cartons this year to produce 7,600 sets of desks and chairs for schools in rural areas.
"We expect to get another 10 million used packages from the BMA schools which should enable us to produce as many as 11,600 sets of chairs and desks,"Mr Kritsada said.
Based on the company's study, the two projects could help reduce as many as 198 tonnes of garbage and more than 178,000 kilogrammes of carbon dioxide.
Mr Kitsada also said the company would also discuss with the postal service provider Thailand Post Co a plan to allow people to drop used packages at postal outlets. It plans to run the project continuously to make chipboard office furniture as well.
By Walailak Keeratipipatpong
The growing consumption of drinks and liquid food has left behind a huge volume of UHT cartons, a nightmare for recyclers.According to the food industry's estimates on the consumption of readyto-drink and ready-to-cook products,about 3.8 billion cartons are discarded each year, representing 38,000 tonnes of waste.
Although paper makes up a major part of each carton, it is not fully degradable because 20% of it is made of plastic and 5% aluminium foil.
But the waste has value if it is recycled into chipboard to make furniture and student desks and chairs.
Each year, the used cartons can be processed into more than 1.5 million sets of student desks and chairs, since each set calls for an average of 2,500 cartons.
Turning used UHT cartons into chipboard is quite common in developed countries but in Thailand, the first concrete project was launched only 10 years ago by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration and Tetra Pak (Thailand)Co, a leader of food-processing and packaging solutions.
But many changes in BMA governors over the past years disrupted the policy.The shortfall of discarded boxes due to inefficient garbage collection also impeded the project. Tetra Pak, the world's biggest producer of the cartons,has therefore pursued the initiative on its own.
M.R. Sukhumbhand Paribatra, the Bangkok governor, however, used the occasion of the World Environmental Day on June 5 to launch the used-carton recycling project to produce desks and chairs for 435 schools under the supervision of BMA.
The project, in co-operation with Ampol Food Processing Co (APF), the processor of Chao Koh coconut milk, aims to encourage BMA students to return used UHT cartons of any kind of products to the company to be made into desks and chairs for their own schools.
The co-operation branched out from APF's existing project.
Kritsada Sopa, marketing manager of APF, said that the company had already invested 10 million baht to equip a recycling machine at its manufacturing plant in Nakhon Pathom for the purpose.
The investment is part of APF's Magic Box programme, which aims to collect 10 million used UHT cartons this year to produce 7,600 sets of desks and chairs for schools in rural areas.
"We expect to get another 10 million used packages from the BMA schools which should enable us to produce as many as 11,600 sets of chairs and desks,"Mr Kritsada said.
Based on the company's study, the two projects could help reduce as many as 198 tonnes of garbage and more than 178,000 kilogrammes of carbon dioxide.
Mr Kitsada also said the company would also discuss with the postal service provider Thailand Post Co a plan to allow people to drop used packages at postal outlets. It plans to run the project continuously to make chipboard office furniture as well.
BIOPLASTIC FANTASTIC!
Competitive alternative green packaging materials do battle with the old polluters By Anchalee Kongrut
For years I have been a loyal supporter of KU Green's bioplastic products - biodegradable food packaging that is an alternative to polystyrene foam and other polluting plastic products.Such faithful patronage makes me proud,yet it bothers me that the price of KU Green products is at least two or three times that of ordinary packaging.
There are always explanations for choosing expensive things over cheap ones. As for me, I dole out the extra satang simply because I want to see KU Green bioplastic products thrive.
My theory is that cheap goods are a result of the law of demand and supply.Remember the price of mobile phones 20 years ago? If people keep buying KU-Green products, the price could become level with or lower than polluting polystyrene foam and oil-based plastic.
So far, however, my actions and those of like-minded KU fans don't seem to be enough. Over the last 10 years, the price of bioplastic products has hardly wavered.You have to pay five baht for a bioplastic lunch box against one baht for a polystyrene foam package of the same size.
Bioplastics are made from natural agricultural products such as cassava, tapioca and sugar cane starch. The materials can biodegrade naturally within one year without releasing toxic substances into surrounding soil and water. Normal plastic materials take almost a century to biodegrade, while polystyrene foam will stay on the planet practically forever.
Bioplastic production is good for the agricultural sector as well as it uses farm products and waste and minimises the accumulation of rubbish. Decomposing bioplastic waste can be even be used as an organic fertiliser.
Bioplastics became widely known over a decade ago, but despite the damage traditional oil-based plastics are doing to the planet, they haven't really caught on.
In the same time period, alternative energy sources made from biomass have become popular. Biodiesel and ethanol are now mainstream products, affordable thanks to supportive government policies.In Thailand the state's Oil Fund pays one baht for every litre of biodiesel put into our vehicles. The Revenue Department also waives taxes on ethanol that is produced for fuel. Without political sympathy and state subsidy, biodiesel and ethanol would cost around five baht more per litre, making themmuch less commercially viable.
I'm optimistic the future may be brighter for bioplastics. The National Innovation Agency (NIA), the state's technological research arm, will propose that the Finance Ministry collect tax on oil-based plastics,hopefully starting in 2010, pending approval from the finance ministry.
The NIA hopes the tax will drive the price of oil-based plastic materials higher,on a par with bioplastics. Who in their right mind would patronise polluting products if they cost the same as environ-mentally friendly alternatives?
Wantanee Chongkum, director of the Innovation Department at NIA, said the tax measure should help give rise to a surge in bioplastics.
In reality, ordinary plastic, polystyrene foam and bioplastic are not much different in terms of production cost, said Ms Wantanee."What makes polystyrene foam and plastic cheaper is their high demand,as manufacturers can produce them en masse. Another aspect is that manufacturers do not factor in garbage disposal costs. So the burden to clean up the environment is passed to the authorities," she said.
Indeed, this is not the first time the government has attempted to counter the use of plastic packaging. Over a decade ago the Pollution Control Department drafted a packing tax law to collect fees from packaging manufacturers and consumers. The bill was opposed by the industrial sector and never took off. So, I expect our industrialists to ferociously counter this tax measure also.
Still, I hope the government will also see the benefits of bioplastics, which are not only environmental. Major international bioplastic manufacturers such as Netherlands-based CSM, a leading bakeries supplier, and Nature Works LLC, the world's largest producer of bioplastics, have considered building a multi-million baht bioplastic production facility in Thailand.
The company's investment plan is in line with Thailand's national road map for the development of an integrated bioplastics industry by 2012.
I am crossing my fingers that the NIA's proposal will be granted. The government has recently issued laws and policies conducive to the development of environmentally friendly products. Earlier this month, the Board of Investment gave a generous tax cut - up to 90%- to ecocar manufacturers.
I hope this sentiment will spread to bioplastic investment.
For years I have been a loyal supporter of KU Green's bioplastic products - biodegradable food packaging that is an alternative to polystyrene foam and other polluting plastic products.Such faithful patronage makes me proud,yet it bothers me that the price of KU Green products is at least two or three times that of ordinary packaging.
There are always explanations for choosing expensive things over cheap ones. As for me, I dole out the extra satang simply because I want to see KU Green bioplastic products thrive.
My theory is that cheap goods are a result of the law of demand and supply.Remember the price of mobile phones 20 years ago? If people keep buying KU-Green products, the price could become level with or lower than polluting polystyrene foam and oil-based plastic.
So far, however, my actions and those of like-minded KU fans don't seem to be enough. Over the last 10 years, the price of bioplastic products has hardly wavered.You have to pay five baht for a bioplastic lunch box against one baht for a polystyrene foam package of the same size.
Bioplastics are made from natural agricultural products such as cassava, tapioca and sugar cane starch. The materials can biodegrade naturally within one year without releasing toxic substances into surrounding soil and water. Normal plastic materials take almost a century to biodegrade, while polystyrene foam will stay on the planet practically forever.
Bioplastic production is good for the agricultural sector as well as it uses farm products and waste and minimises the accumulation of rubbish. Decomposing bioplastic waste can be even be used as an organic fertiliser.
Bioplastics became widely known over a decade ago, but despite the damage traditional oil-based plastics are doing to the planet, they haven't really caught on.
In the same time period, alternative energy sources made from biomass have become popular. Biodiesel and ethanol are now mainstream products, affordable thanks to supportive government policies.In Thailand the state's Oil Fund pays one baht for every litre of biodiesel put into our vehicles. The Revenue Department also waives taxes on ethanol that is produced for fuel. Without political sympathy and state subsidy, biodiesel and ethanol would cost around five baht more per litre, making themmuch less commercially viable.
I'm optimistic the future may be brighter for bioplastics. The National Innovation Agency (NIA), the state's technological research arm, will propose that the Finance Ministry collect tax on oil-based plastics,hopefully starting in 2010, pending approval from the finance ministry.
The NIA hopes the tax will drive the price of oil-based plastic materials higher,on a par with bioplastics. Who in their right mind would patronise polluting products if they cost the same as environ-mentally friendly alternatives?
Wantanee Chongkum, director of the Innovation Department at NIA, said the tax measure should help give rise to a surge in bioplastics.
In reality, ordinary plastic, polystyrene foam and bioplastic are not much different in terms of production cost, said Ms Wantanee."What makes polystyrene foam and plastic cheaper is their high demand,as manufacturers can produce them en masse. Another aspect is that manufacturers do not factor in garbage disposal costs. So the burden to clean up the environment is passed to the authorities," she said.
Indeed, this is not the first time the government has attempted to counter the use of plastic packaging. Over a decade ago the Pollution Control Department drafted a packing tax law to collect fees from packaging manufacturers and consumers. The bill was opposed by the industrial sector and never took off. So, I expect our industrialists to ferociously counter this tax measure also.
Still, I hope the government will also see the benefits of bioplastics, which are not only environmental. Major international bioplastic manufacturers such as Netherlands-based CSM, a leading bakeries supplier, and Nature Works LLC, the world's largest producer of bioplastics, have considered building a multi-million baht bioplastic production facility in Thailand.
The company's investment plan is in line with Thailand's national road map for the development of an integrated bioplastics industry by 2012.
I am crossing my fingers that the NIA's proposal will be granted. The government has recently issued laws and policies conducive to the development of environmentally friendly products. Earlier this month, the Board of Investment gave a generous tax cut - up to 90%- to ecocar manufacturers.
I hope this sentiment will spread to bioplastic investment.
MANUFACTURER OF M WRAP FILM ON A ROLL
Plastic-film manufacturer MMP Corp expects sales this year to grow by 25 per cent to Bt2.4billion, thanks to the rising demand for its M Wrap brand food cling film.
The company produces and exports M Wrap and M Stretch film for wrapping industrial products. Sales of the food cling film account for 25 per cent of its total sales revenue, while the stretch film generates 75 per cent.
Anake Chongsathien, managing director of MMP, said most people had less money to spend on dining out and were opting to cook at home. This benefits cling film as a wrapping for cooked foods. The spread of type-A (H1N1) flu has also led to greter concern over food safety.
The company expects sales of M Wrap film will reach Bt1 billion this year from Bt800 million last year.
Higher demand for M Wrap overseas has the company's machines running at full capacity of 520 tonnes a month. It has had to approach a Japanese firm to help it produce M Wrap. Talks with the firm are expected to be wrapped up next month.
Anake added that M Wrap's proportion of the domestic sales is expected to reach 70 per cent this year, up from 50 per cent last year, and that of exports to decline to 30 cent from 50 per cent.
Anake said that rising sales of M Wrap should offset declining stretch-film sales this year. Stretch film targets revenue of Bt1.4 billion this year.
The company's sales of stretch film relied on the export market, which has been hit by the economic crisis. Anake said sales of sretch film thais year might drop by 15 per cent from last year.
"If there were no economic crisis, our production capacity of stretch film would be running at full speed, at 3,000 tonnes a month. But now we are producing just 1,800 tonnes a month," be said.
The company produces and exports M Wrap and M Stretch film for wrapping industrial products. Sales of the food cling film account for 25 per cent of its total sales revenue, while the stretch film generates 75 per cent.
Anake Chongsathien, managing director of MMP, said most people had less money to spend on dining out and were opting to cook at home. This benefits cling film as a wrapping for cooked foods. The spread of type-A (H1N1) flu has also led to greter concern over food safety.
The company expects sales of M Wrap film will reach Bt1 billion this year from Bt800 million last year.
Higher demand for M Wrap overseas has the company's machines running at full capacity of 520 tonnes a month. It has had to approach a Japanese firm to help it produce M Wrap. Talks with the firm are expected to be wrapped up next month.
Anake added that M Wrap's proportion of the domestic sales is expected to reach 70 per cent this year, up from 50 per cent last year, and that of exports to decline to 30 cent from 50 per cent.
Anake said that rising sales of M Wrap should offset declining stretch-film sales this year. Stretch film targets revenue of Bt1.4 billion this year.
The company's sales of stretch film relied on the export market, which has been hit by the economic crisis. Anake said sales of sretch film thais year might drop by 15 per cent from last year.
"If there were no economic crisis, our production capacity of stretch film would be running at full speed, at 3,000 tonnes a month. But now we are producing just 1,800 tonnes a month," be said.
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