SCG Unit forecasts lower growth

The country's leading fibre cement manufacturer Siam-Fibre Cement in SCG Building Materials expects to see a lower sales growth this year due mainly to the contraction of newly-built and renovated house market.

"The total market of fibre cement products this year is expected Bt18 billion, falling 15 per cent from Bt20 billion in 2008," said managing director Panthep Supachayakit.

To cope with the sluggish spending, the newly appointed managing director hopes its five business operation strategies will help boost sales of its "Elephant" brand products - roofs, boards and synthetic woods - which are used as wood-substituted products.

He said one of the five strategies is to expand export market, focusing on Asian such as Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, Burma and Vietnam. Other overseas markets are Africa and Middle East. This year, the company expects its export sales will increase to 5-10 per cent of total sales, up from 5 per cent last year.

In 2008, the company posted Bt6 billion, with a 4-per-cent increase, out of the total Bt20-billion fibre-product market. Its rivals are such as Conwood and Sherra brands.

With five strategies, Panthep said, this would cushion its sales this year with a slight drop not exceeding 10 per cent, when comparing with an expected 15-per-cent drop of the total market.

He added that of the total market, the two-third will be fibre-cement roofs and the rest will be synthetic woods such as ceiling and siding board.

About 70 per cent are dominated in the newly built house segment and the remaining 30 per cent are in the renovation segment.

Panthep said, "We haven't use asbestos since 2007 and replaced with cellulose, which is made from pine wood planted for industrial use, as a mixture in production process," said he.

Though non-asbestos product prices are higher than products with as asbestos, consumers have tendency to care more for safety and quality of like, said Panthep, adding that SmartWood Brand and SmartBoard Brand began to be more familiar to the market and has increasingly accepted as demand for wood-substituted products has been increasing because of the scarcity and high price of natural woods.

"Our wood-substituted product prices are lower around 15-50 per cent than real woods in the same size," said he.

The company's total capacity is 700,000 sqm a year.

The other four strategies are eager to: provide more eco products that save natural resource consumption; system approach that provides alternative choices for consumers in using construction material applied to product system; high-value added development that cater consumer's demand; and co-promotion that organizes co-promotion with strategic alliances, dealers and sub-dealers.