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Published on February 4, 2008

"Our main clients have been hurt by baht appreciation, and all of them have suffered smaller returns on exports," director Apichai Lumlertpongpana said last week.

He founded ITC 25 years ago with his brother  Apichit.

ITC's clients include frozen-food manufacturers and exporters CP Group, Bangkok Ranch, Sun Valley and Sunshine.

Many exporters have decided not to build new production lines and instead maximise capacity at existing facilities in a bid to reduce costs, Apichai said.

"So we will focus more on exporting our industrial-refrigeration systems, mainly to potential markets with similar climates to Thailand's, such as Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Burma, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and South Africa.

"We hope to increase exports from the Bt40 million expected this year to more than Bt100 million in each of the next five years," Apichai said.

Vietnam is a high-potential market which is dominated at present by small, local companies, Apichai said.

ITC thinks it can become a world-class player, competing with international manufacturers from Canada and the US.

ITC sales last year reached Bt450 million, of which just 10 per cent was from exports.

The company started exporting tube-ice machines three years, mainly to Malaysia, the Philippines and Burma.

Apichai said the company was quite ready in terms of manufacturing capacity.

Kwanchai Rungfapaisarn

The Nation