The group's expansion has been operated through the CP Crop Integration Business Group, which has taken responsibility for both marketing strategy and research and development in foreign countries.

The seed business has also been expanded in many coun-tries, including Vietnam, Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Bangladesh, Nepal, Turkey and the Ukraine.

This is part of CP's strategy of setting up more offshore businesses with trading partners.

The strategy also facilitates re-exports to other potential countries.

The company established a research-and-development centre for seed in China 10 years ago, in Vietnam 12 year ago, in India six and Burma eight.

Montri Congtrakultien, seed-business president, said the company had to invest in research and development for years to ensure high-quality seed to access targeted markets.

"We explore business opportunities in the name of Thailand so we have to offer premium seed," he said.

Despite entering China 10 year ago, CP sells only 5,000-6,000 tonnes of maize seed per year there. The production comes mainly from its main growing areas in Guangxi, Yunnan and Guizhou.

Sales in China stand at about 50 per cent of the group's sales in Thailand. However, it is ex-pected that sales will rise higher than in Thailand in three to five years.

CP plans to invest Bt100 mil-lion this year to expand its seed business in China, parti-cularly in the corn-belt area cover-ing Hunan, Hubei and nearby provinces. Of the total investment, Bt50 million will be spent on research and development for both maize and animal feed-meal products.

Montri added that the group had established four R&D centres in China, including Sichuan and Guangxi. In addition, there are three manufacturing plants in targeted areas.

"We are establishing Thai-owned companies in terms of investment and technology in our targeted countries instead of buying from other companies in order to facilitate our offshore business," he said.

He said research teams include Thai and Chinese experts who have worked together in ensure the best maize breed for the market.

In India, the group set up CP Seed (India) in 1999 with registered capital of about Bt50 million. However, the company concentrated on R&D without any income until 2004.

Since 2005, the group has started marketing CP 818, a cross-breed maize that gives a 20 per cent higher yield than the original stock. So far, its total production has reached 80,000 tonnes per year.

CP has concentrated growing maize in eight states in southern India. The maize production from India will also be exported to Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

The Crop Integrated Business Group's total sales are projected to grow by 10 per cent to Bt4.4 billion this year. Of the total, Bt2 billion will come from seed and fertiliser products, Bt1.7 billion from machinery, Bt250 million from rubber and Bt350 million from horticultural crops.

However, most of the group's revenue still comes from domestic sales in Thailand, which account for 75 per cent of total sales.

Achara Pongvutitham

The Nation