Thai-German Meat Products, a producer of meat products, sausages, ham and bacon, will spend more than Bt1 billion to build a second plant with a capacity of 40-50 tonnes a day. The move is a bid to increase its export volume to 40 per cent of production over the next three years, from 10 per cent now.
Vice president Wattana Puapatanakajorn yesterday said the new plant would be located in the Wellgrow Industrial Estate in Chachoengsao's Bang Pakong district, near its existing plant. Construction is expected to begin next month, with completion in about 18 months.
However, if the Kingdom's political situation deteriorates, TGM may opt to put the plan on hold once more. The second plant was to have been built last year but was delayed because of political uncertainty, Wattana said.
TGM has been in the sausage market for 47 years, producing various types of sausage under the TGM, Schafer, Eurola and Two Pigs brands.
The company plans to issue new shares to raise funds for the new plant, raising its registered capital from Bt20 million to Bt100 million.
Wattana said the second factory would produce dry meat products, ham and bacon, while the first plant would focus on sausage products.
"We'll move dry meat products, ham and bacon from the first plant to the second," he said.
At present, the first plant is running at its full capacity of 20 tonnes per day, so the company is incapable of expanding its exports without new capacity.
TGM is in talks with importers in Singapore and Japan with a view to entering those markets later this year, Wattana said. The eventual target is to increase export volume to 40 per cent of production capacity within three years, from 10 per cent now.
Its main export markets are in Asia, but plans provide for exports to Europe and the United States within five years.
Wattana said TGM's growth was proceeding step by step. After increasing its export volume, the next step involved frozen-food products.
"Another step is listing on the Thai bourse, but we must study the advantages and disadvantages of that before making a decision," he said.
TGM has targeted annual sales revenue of Bt3 billion within three years, up from Bt1.3 billion last year.
