Thailand Food & Agriculture

European Food, a leading local manufacturer of confectionery products, has developed a medium-term strategy to meet the challenge of the coming Asean Economic Community, including a plan to set up its first overseas factory somewhere in the region.

Singha Corporation, the country's largest brewer, is interested in expanding into soft drinks to strengthen its non-alcoholic product lineup.

Charoen Pokphand Group, the country's largest agro-business conglomerate, said yesterday that it stood ready to increase minimum wages to Bt300 and new graduates' salaries to Bt15,000 in line with the incoming government's policy pledges, in order to drive the country's growth and domestic consumption.

Two food chains under Minor Food Group _ Dairy Queen and Burger King _ aim to expand their businesses faster in the second half of this year to respond to the public's greater spending power.

Thai Union Frozen Products Public Company Limited ("TUF"), Thailand's leading processor and exporter of canned and frozen seafood products, successfully placed a series of bonds to a group of institutional and high net worth investors.

Central Food Retail Co (CFR), the operator of the Tops supermarket chain, will speed up expansion of Tops Daily stores and renovate its Tops Supermarket outlets.

Thai Union Frozen Plc (TUF), Thailand's largest seafood exporter, is confident it can achieve a 40% increase in sales this year to at least US$3 billion despite the European debt crisis, says president Thiraphong Chansiri.

Exporters are uncomfortable with the prospect of a strengthening baht, as they want a stable exchange rate to help them keep pace amid tough global competition

Strong crop prices drove the growth of Thailand's farm economy in the first half of this year to expand by 7.3% year-on-year, the highest rate in 10 years.

Tipco F&B, a Thai-Japanese joint venture, aims to double its beverage sales to 5 billion baht by 2015.