The group said in a press release on Thursday that specialty foods are  “unique and high-value food items made in small quantities from high-quality ingredients”.

The popularity of specialty foods fuel interests from both retailers and consumers, becoming one of the fastest growing segments in the specialty food business with US$140.3 billion (Bt4.4 trillion) record sales in 2018 within the US market alone, the association said.

It’s a revolutionising business, and an exciting one for the Thailand-based food manufacturing powerhouse NR Instant Produce as they announced their ambitious plans to take leadership role in global Specialty foods industry.

NR Instant Produce (NRF), the leading purveyor of Asian ethnic flavors for almost three decades, originated from a humble beginning as a manufacturing and distribution shop-house factory in 1991. By 1996, NRF initiated market entry exports to the U.S.A, followed by a major export drive to the UK in 2001, then launching its own OEM brand, Por Kwan, in export markets targeting Asian ethnics in the US and Europe.

The company was already on its path to success – becoming one of the first manufacturers to receiving an BRC Accreditation, signing Woolworth’s as their first private label customer, and at last, achieving its first Bt1 billion turnover in 2011.

NRF’s brand leadership in the ethnic oriental supermarkets and position as Europe’s leading supermarket co-packer caught the interests of Hatton Capital Limited.

Danai Pathomvanich, Managing Partner of Hatton Capital, has been investing in the food industry for the past decade and recently completed half a billion dollars in acquisition to date.

Danai acquired NR Instant Produce in April 2017 determined to elevate and transform the Thai-bred manufacturer NRF into a global player with a thriving new executive direction. NRF main product categories consist of ethnic oriental foods, plant-based foods, seasoning, recipe, RTE, beverage, and better for you foods and ingredients.

Danai said:“Today’s millennials are the largest consumer segment and enforcing the key trends within the global food industry, particularly driving the demands for high quality, specialty foods that they’re willing to pay more for. Thailand needs to move beyond commoditized products and into niche, higher value or quality products that are relevant to today’s millennials. Some prominent brands that fail to stay relevant are finding their market share will get quickly eroded, while some global MNC’s have already started to move into specialty or craft products via acquisitions or investments.”

He added: “I believe NRF has a unique opportunity to take a global leadership role as a producer of oriental foods from Southeast Asia and build Thailand as a food production hub for the specialty foods category, considered the fastest growing ethnic food segments in the world.”NRF remains laser-focused on playing a pivotal role in elevating the standards of food manufacturing, transforming farming techniques, sourcing, producing, and the way they feed the world.

“With this new direction the company prepared its rebranding process, starting with changing its corporate logo NR to the current NRF (an abbreviation for Nature Regenerative Foods). NRF stands symbolised for the company to take care of farmers, producers, and the earth in order for it to feed the world – a telling sign of sustainability at the core of its business.”

Unveiling their ambitious plan, Danai proudly explains NRF’s latest sustainability program.

The manufacturing giant has invested resources and capital in a national cooperation between Thailand’s leading wholesale markets and the Faculty of Medical Technology, Mahidol University to elevate Thai farming and techniques to internationally standards, encouraging ‘safe foods’ quality produce. What’s their ultimate goal? To improve the livelihood of Thai farmers.

“Thailand has already lost billions of dollars in lost opportunities due to compliance standards in OECD countries such as pesticide residue. The implementation of the process has been excruciating, however I believe by transforming the way we farm, both NRF and the country could recover lost market opportunities. We need to improve our food production system now, so Thailand and our local farmers will not be left behind as the global food market races to its peak,” added Danai.

NRF continues to make sustainable food experiences enjoyable while raising the quality of life for their stakeholders, making the world sustainable one SKU at a time. Given its status as a leading manufacturer in co-packing and private label OEM, NRF is exporting to more than 25 countries with over 3,000+ SKUs, consisting of 100+ brands within 9 categories, with products already present in ethnic supermarkets major countries around the world.

NRF aims to penetrate the Thai local market with main categories; seasoning, vegetarian foods, and healthy foods. It also boasts its aggressive plan to move forward to development sustainable production together with local farmers to improve their livelihoods.

In determination to raise Thailand’s specialty food industry to meet international standards and position Thailand as a manufacturing hub, NRF sets a goal to generate cumulative revenue of NRF and its subsidiaries of more than Bt10 billion for over the next 5 years. So far, the 2017 annual sales revenue was Bt1.087 billion, within 2018 was Bt1.120 billion, with expected generated sales in 2019 of over Bt1.377 billion – an increase of 23 per cent.

Rex Lee, general manager of Asus APAC, said the Expert series will include the Asus ExpertBook and the Asus ExpertPC. The firm expects to release the new product series worldwide in the fourth quarter of this year.

“The Asus ExpertBook will feature new technologies such as a camera and microphone. It also works well with the situation of users who want to work-in and work-out office,” Lee said. “We will also work with business partners to develop new solutions to support the demand of the SMB market. The Expert series focuses on new generation, small and medium-sized businesses (SMB), education, and startups.”

He said that the firm would increase the number of business partners to develop solutions to support the market and aid the development of a strong product line. It will also hire experienced commercial sales staff to promote the band.

Alvin Chen, country manager of Asus (Thailand), said that Asus distributes its laptops to the consumer and commercial markets. The firm has a market share of around 2 per cent for the commercial market in Thailand. It expects that by the end of next year, it expects to reach a market share of around 10 per cent and aims to increase this to 25 per cent. That would put it in range to become the No.1 vendor for commercial laptops in Thailand within three years.

The firm this year will spend budget more than Bt120 million on marketing. It will set up 100 Asus corners at dealer shops, along with more than 1,000 kiosks nationwide and two Asus concept stores this year. The firm will open the first Asus concept store at Central World next month, with the second to come before the end of the year. It also provides on-site services for laptops.

GFK reported that Asus last year gained the No.1 spot for consumer notebooks in Southeast Asia with a market share of 31 per cent, followed by Acer with 20 per cent and Lenovo 18 per cent.

Lee added that the firm expects that by the end of this year it will also gain the top position in Southeast Asia for consumer laptops, with a market share of 35-40 per cent.

Chen said that for consumer laptops in Thailand, the firm in April this year had a market share of around 27 per cent. So far this year in Thailand around 1.1 million laptops have been sold, of which 950,000 – or 90 per cent – are consumer models.

Thailand is an emerging IT market and has high potential for growth. The firm will continue to release products in Thailand, including the Asus ZenBook Pro Duo, a duo display screen laptop, in the third quarter of this year.

“We want to make the right things for Thai customers, such as gaming laptops designed for games lovers,” said Chen.

With gaming laptops, the firm last year had a market share more than 30 per cent for the Asia Pacific region and expects to achieve over 40 per cent coverage in the region by the end of this year.

This year Asus is celebrating its 30th anniversary, and is marking the event with the release of the Asus ZenBook Pro Duo, Asus ZenBook Duo, Asus ZenBook edition 30, and Asus ZenScreen Touch.

The ZenBook Pro Duo (UX581) features Asus ScreenPad Plus, a 14-inch, full-width secondary touchscreen that expands and enhances the interactive capabilities offered by the original Asus ScreenPad.

The ZenBook Duo (UX481) is a 14-inch ultraportable version. It is also available with a 12.6-inch FHD ScreenPad Plus, Intel Core i7 CPU and GeForce MX250 GPU. The ZenBook Pro Duo and ZenBook Duo will be available in the third quarter of this year.

The ZenBook Edition 30 is to be marketed as a premium ultracompact Windows 10 laptops with Asus ScreenPad 2.0, including a limited-edition 30th anniversary model with a leather lid cover. The laptop is available in other international markets, but not yet in Thailand.

The hospitality operator posted Bt9.76 billion in annual revenue last year.

The group has set aside an investment budget of Bt20.8 billion to expand the number of its hotel properties over the three years, with Bt5.3 billion allocated to this task this year.

Thirayuth Chirathivat, chief executive of Centara Hotels & Resorts, said the group operates 70 hotels and resorts with 13,610 rooms in 12 countries, including Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Turkey, Indonesia, Maldives, Sri Lanka, China, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

About 45 of these hotels and resorts are in Thailand. Some 39 hotels and resorts are in operation, and a further 31 are being developed. Twenty-two hotels and resorts are owned by the group, with the rest under management contracts.

“We (Centara) have set a strategic plan to grow our hotel business continuously in the next three to five years, and target to double our annual revenue by 2022, and to move forward to become an international chain for hotels and resorts,” said Thirayuth. He said that Centara will open three more hotels this year, with two of them to be under management contracts.

“We will open Centara Sonrisa Residence and Suites Sriracha in June, and Centara Ao Nang Beach Resort and Spa Krabi and COSI Pattaya Naklua Beach in September,” he said. “Our estimated investment funds for this year are Bt5.3 billion. The investment budget set for the next three years (from 2019 to 2021) is Bt20.8 billion.”

Thirayuth said that Centara will enter Myanmar in the last quarter this year. Under the expansion, the group will launch its Centara Paradise Inle Lake Resort and Spa, being developed under a partnership with KMA, a subsidiary of the Kaung Myanmar Aung (KMA) Group of Companies.

The joint venture will develop and renovate six hotels in tourism destinations in Myanmar. Centara will look after management and operation of the six hotels.

Thirayuth said that, supported by an expanded collection of innovative brands, Centara “aims to build on an impressive legacy by bringing exceptional new hotels and resorts to exciting new destinations worldwide”. The group has set its growth strategy around three pillars.

The first of these will see expansion through mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and new management deals in destinations with high potential for tourism growth.

“Centara will continue to work closely with business partners, traders and investors to identify the best strategic opportunities for the group,” Thirayuth said.

“The group will also strengthen its footholds in Southeast Asia, the Indian Ocean and the Middle East, while looking out for opportunities in other continents to accommodate the needs of tourists and investment promptness.”

The second pillar is centred on a multi-brand strategy by adopting innovation and “creating varying brands that cater to the different layers of travellers’ needs” and to capture the market of the younger generations.

“We have initiated our latest young, lifestyle COSI brand that incorporates innovation and technology to deliver simple but effective services,” Thirayuth said. “The brand now has established outstanding market positioning among independent travellers. COSI Samui hotel that we launched in 2017 has received excellent feedback from guests. It even won the Agoda Gold Circle Award 2018 for excellent services voted by customer reviews, with great deals and modern design. We plan to open more COSIs in other provinces such as Pattaya, Krabi and Chiang Mai, and a COSI Vientiane, which is being built.” The third pillar involves the enhancement of infrastructure, such as technology and operating systems to support the company’s aggressive expansion plans.

“We need to upgrade our business processes and consumer experience online to cover omni-channel sales. We will go more online to create brand loyalty and maximise our Centara the 1 membership system,” Thirayuth said.

“From my perspective, the challenge for hotel business operators is the ever-changing consumer behaviour,” Thirayuth said.

“We have to keep learning and open up to new ideas and innovate. That’s one of the reasons why we originated the COSI hotel concept. We still see Thailand as a very strong market and it is growing in popularity as a destination.

However, Centara has diversified the portfolio in other high-potential destinations as well in order to add variety and to capture different markets. We are proud to export our unique Thai hospitality to travellers worldwide.”

The move comes as the company steps up its digital expansion plan across Asia.

Under the services, customers in Thailand can connect with their families and friends at any time via the Western Union mobile app or transactional wu.com/th website. The services have been launched in association with Central Department Store, one of the largest department store chains in Thailand and Western Union’s first agent in the country, providing global money transfers at its retail locations for nearly 25 years.

Sohini Rajola, regional vice president for South Asia and Indo-China at Western Union, said the company’s digital services have been growing very fast. In other markets, the growth has been at a rate of about 20 per cent.

 “Coming to Asia, we believe that growth will be at the same rate or even faster because the overall population is very young and tech savvy,” she said. “Thailand has been one of the important markets for Western Union. In fact, the country was the first in Indo-China for us to launch digital services. The country has a lot of growth potential, especially with the vision of the government in supporting the digital industry. The government recognises the power of the digital industry in shaping the future and, at the same time, Thais are quick to implement digital solutions and technology.”

Rajola said that Western Union’s digital services in Thailand enable payouts into billions of bank accounts worldwide in nearly 100 countries and territories, or to Western Union’s more than half a million agent locations in more than 200 countries and territories. “Customers can pay for their transactions natively within the digital channels using a choice of card or account, or commence their transaction on app or the Web and pay in-person at retail,” she said.

“We are delighted to debut international digital money transfer services in Thailand as part of our digital expansion plans across Asia. Our strategy of a multi-channel approach is about servicing the widest group of customers who are multi-cultural, multi-generational with multiple purposes of sending money.

Focus on innovatIon

“Our inclusive innovation approach enables customers to access services online, via mobile app or in person at our retail network and also integrates our tenured Western Union retail agents.

“We are delighted to collaborate with the Central Department Store, our agent of nearly 25 years to offer consumers boundless possibilities to integrate mobile usage across various aspects of their daily lives.”

Rajola said the company had already seen a large number of registrations.

“We expect that within six months, we could see online money transfer transactions continue to grow globally,” she said.

Rajola said that the key challenge is the lack of Electronic Know Your Customer (eKYC) principles in the country. Once eKYC becomes available, the digital transaction can be more seamless.

“The Thai Board of Investment has declared that the digital industry will be a significant driver of Thailand’s economic transformation strategy, and Western Union’s digital services aligns with the Thai government’s Thailand 4.0 policy to create an economy driven by innovation and technology,” she said.

More than 57 million of Thailand’s 69 million population are internet users, bringing 82 per cent of the population online, according to a 2019 report by Hootsuite and We Are Social. In addition, there are more than 92 million mobile subscriptions in the country.

Montri Sithiyavanich, head of financial services at Central Group, said: “Our collaboration with Western Union is focused on delivering customer-centric solutions and services and enabling convenient financial transactions.

“Western Union’s innovation over time has built a powerful cross-border platform for moving money almost anywhere in the world in a matter of moments and we are delighted to work together and open up new choices and possibilities to move money reliably in many available formats – digital or cash, online or offline.”

PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Limited (PTTEP) recently organized “the 4th PTTEP Teenergy Reunion” at Khao Yai National Park, Nakhon Ratchasima province, according to its press statement.

About 70 members from the 1st – the 5th PTTEP Teenergy project joined the activity and exchanged experiences in performing social and environmental conservation in their schools and communities.

Under the strategy of 3C “Cultivate-Create-Change”, PTTEP Teenergy has an intention to cultivate the awareness of natural resources and the environment among the youth by providing the opportunity for out-of-classroom learning to help change the community and society for the better.

The Asiatic both at the fair will introduce “Cocomix” and “Cocoway”, brand-new products that the company is launching for the international market. Also on display are their feature coconut food and beverage products “Cocomax 100% coconut water” the No 1 drink for health lovers and “Ampawa 100% coconut milk”, along with other products.

Nutapon Visuthikraisee, managing director of Asiatic Agro Industry Co Ltd said that the company is a large producer, processor and exporter of coconuts in Thailand.

It was the first company to use the PET plastic format for coconut products. The company has been running under the concept of “Sharing coconut culture with the world” in a campaign that emphasises the bond between Thai culture and the coconut.

Moreover, the company manages the value chain to ensure it makes use of all coconut parts, a process it calls “coconut value creation”. To do so, it brings global standards of innovation to the production process to achieve the best quality and preserve the connection to nature. Currently, the company exports processed coconut products to five continents, 80 countries worldwide.

Cocomax 100 per cent coconut water was the initiator of the coconut water market in Thailand. The brand received good feedback from their consumers, who lean toward the young generation and health lovers. The product had a huge impact on the coconut water market in Thailand, with its success luring many other brands to join in. Cocomax is the top brand with the highest sales volume in the 100 per cent coconut water market. The company is now developing new flavours and variants of Cocomax to provide variety and choice for consumer, as well as refresh the current market.

​​ Ampawa 100 per cent coconut milk represents a revolution in ready-to-cook coconut milk in the Thai industry, with its use of the PET format. The product uses carefully selected coconuts, which are freshly squeezed through modern and innovative production processes and then fill PET bottles using cold aseptic filling technology. The process helps preserve its natural white colour, viscosity, and the aroma of fresh coconut milk without any additives. Recently, Ampawa has added a new Tetra Prisma one-litre package to the product line in both 250 millilitre and 500 ml formats.