Oishi green tea ready to steep into US market
Tan: US market alone would equal the combined volume of Oishi’s 12 existing export markets.
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Oishi Group Plc will start exporting its popular bottled green tea to the US next month, following the opening of its new bottling plant in Chon Buri today.
"We've already taken four or five months to complete the approval process from the FDA [Food and Drug Administration] in the US. We'll take another six to 12 months to complete the whole distribution network, so that Oishi green tea will be available anywhere in the US," founder and CEO Tan Passakornatee said yesterday. The distribution of Oishi green-tea products will be entrusted to Eastland Food Corp, owned by a Thai entrepreneur who has been in the US for almost 30 years and become one of the largest traders, with a strong network throughout the country. The new production facility on a 7-rai site in the Amata Nakorn Industrial Estate, with the capacity to produce about 20 million bottles a month, will allow expansion of Oishi's green tea and related products in the future, including ready-to-drink fruit juices. The old factory in Ayutthaya's Navanakorn Industrial Park can churn out 30 million bottles of green-tea drinks a month. Tan said the American market alone would equal the combined volume of Oishi's 12 existing export markets, which include Hungary, Spain, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, New Zealand, Australia, Laos and Cambodia. Oishi also receives assistance from its new affiliate, Thai Beverage Plc, which has offices distributing Chang beer in Singapore, Hong Kong and the UK. Exports are expected to double from 5 per cent of total group sales now to more than 10 per cent in 12 months as foreign markets expand beyond the current 12. Oishi expects to achieve its sales target of Bt4 billion this year, up from Bt3.5 billion last year. The company's market share in the domestic Bt6-billion ready-to-drink green-tea market grew from 60 per cent at the end of last year to 66 per cent in April and is expected to reach 70 per cent during a major promotional campaign now underway. From now to July 24, for every Bt40 purchase at any 7-Eleven convenience store, consumers can also buy Oishi green tea or Amino OK for only Bt10. "We have seen over 300-per-cent growth in sales volume during the first three weeks of the campaign. We also expect sales growth of 400-500 per cent during the final 10 days of the campaign," said Tan.
Kwanchai Rungfapaisarn The Nation
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