Although more than 10,000 small and medium-sized enterprises from 40 countries in different product and service sectors attended the event, the creativity of Thai products drew interest from visitors from more than 50 countries.

The Office of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Promotion led five SMEs from Thailand to join the fair for the first time. Jhitraporn Techacharn, director-general of the office, said the office expected that participation would create more opportunities for Thai SMEs to go international in accordance with government targets.

The office targets exports by SMEs to double within five years, from the current 11.9 per cent of total export value.

Products that seemed to attract high interest from international visitors, in particular Asians, were dried tropical fruits in colourful packaging, decorative house items in Thai style and aluminium lamps in a variety of designs.

Jhitraporn said the world market tended to attach high importance to innovative and creative products. "Thai enterprises will be more successful in the world market if they continually develop their products in both quality and creativity," he said.

The expo is an annual event for SMEs, organised by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. The event started in 2002 as a way of helping SMEs explore international market opportunities.

 It is a platform for SME service providers to showcase their products and services. It is also an international market place for networking, business matching and exchange of ideas and inspiration.

Ratchapruek Singprom, managing director of Plus Idea-Aluminium Design, which participated in the fair, said visitors liked the creative design of the products.

The company's products gained strong interest because they were different. The value-added ideas have generated income of about Bt500,000 to Bt600,000 for the firm per month, he said.

Plus Idea has adapted aluminium into products of various designs such as lamps, key rings and photo frames. Ratchapruek said that although there was strong competition in the world market, small enterprises can succeed if they learn to develop their products and create something different from others. "My company has survived as we tried to think differently and always developed designs to prevent counterfeit problems," he said.

Peerawong Chaturongkula, managing director of Thai Confection Industry, said Thai dried fruits have been very successful in Asian markets because of their high quality and attractive packaging.

Due to the fame of Thai fruits, a growing number of orders from overseas visitors have come at the fair. Revenues are growing by at least 30 per cent each year for the company, which achieved about Bt13 million in its first year of operation in 2003, and last year achieved about Bt40 million. Peerawong said the firm expected to gain about Bt50 million next year after increased orders from the expo.

Petchanet Pratruangkrai

The Nation

Hong Kong