Pichai expands oyster brand fish sauce product line

The company has seen single digit sales growth for a number of years, but this year it is hoped sales revenue growth will be in double figures thanks to the new products,

said Pichai's general manager, Punchana Ratanaprasith.

He said that this is the first time in the company's 72-year history company it has developed new flavour.

The company has targeted sales revenue at between Bt15-Bt20 million. However, Punchana declined to reveal this year's sales revenue target, but said sales growth would be around 15 per cent.

Pichai has allocated a Bt10 million marketing budget for thenew products and an additional budget of Bt20 million for its existing products.

Annual growth for the Bt5 billion fish sauce market is only 2 to 3 per cent, but the launch of new products should help drive market growth by at least 5 per cent, Punchana said.

He admitted that growth for the fish sauce market is limited because there are no innovative products. To boost market value, manufacturers have to develop innovative products to stimulate consumer interest.

In addition to the new products already mentioned, he said the company plans to introduce a shrimp sauce in the first quarter next year.

He noted that its Oyster brand sauce has been repackaged to be more attract younger customers. It is in the premium market sector which represents 10 per cent of the total market and Oyster holds 40 per cent market share. He said this year, the company's market share should increase to 50 per cent on the introduction of the new products.

"The premium fish-sauce market has not been affected by the economic recession, but the mid-price market has suffered because consumers have switched to cheaper brands," he said.

He said that new products would be exported to the Netherlands, Japan and Germany. Export sales account 25 per cent of total sales revenue.

Punchana said that the economic recession has affected its export volume, adding that he expects overseas sales to remain flat growth.

"Overseas customers have extended the period between orders because their inventories are higher, before, they placed their orders on a weekly basis but now they only place one every 10 or 15 days," he said.

He said that the company will invest around Bt100 million to raise the number of fish extraction wells by 1,500 to 2,000 from 3,000 at present in preparation for an expected requirement for higher production capacity.

"When the construction of the new fish extraction wells is completed, we can increase production capacity by 10 million litres from 3o million litres now,' he said.