A joint Japan-Thailand packaging manufacturing venture has opened a plant near Bangkok to meet growing demand from the food industry in the Southeast Asian country.
T.A.K. Packaging Co., the joint endeavor between Japanese packaging producer Kanaoka Co. and TPBI Public Co., Thailand's leading plastic bag-maker, has said it began operations at the new factory last week in a bid to double annual production capacity to 200 million meters in two years.
Investing over 500 million baht ($15 million), the new factory will help increase T.A.K.'s output capacity from the current 100 million meters per year to 150 million meters by next year, said TPBI CEO Somsak Borrisuttanakul.
The joint venture aims to raise the annual capacity to 250 million meters in five years to meet rising demand from food and consumer product-makers, Somsak said, adding that the food industry in Thailand is growing about 5 to 10 percent annually.
T.A.K., established in 2011 in Nakhon Pathom province, west of the capital, is owned about 62 percent by TPBI, around 35 percent by Kanaoka and the remainder by a Japanese group conducting trade between the two countries, according to TPBI.
Kanaoka helps TPBI with sales to Japanese customers while providing technical expertise at the Thai unit.
Exporting its products mainly to Australia and Japan, TPBI aims to expand its export markets to Europe and the United States, Somsak said. TPBI also has a factory in Myanmar and plans to increase production there as well.
He estimates that when the output capacity at the joint venture reaches about 200 million meters per year, packaging sales will account for 20 percent of TPBI's overall revenue, up from the current 14 to 15 percent.