The gallery-like showroom will display a variety of home lifts in a relaxing co-working space atmosphere. It will also function as a data centre to house an engineering team for real-time after-sales services.

Aritco expects sales to grow by 100 per cent over the next three years with lift sales rising from 1,000 to 2,000 units through the opening of new showrooms in major cities nationwide.

The local Aritco operation has been the sole distributor and installer of Aritco home lifts from Sweden in Thailand since 2012, with products priced from Bt1 million per unit and targeting customers with a contemporary lifestyle.

Tana Sripongtanakul, the managing director of Aritco (Thailand) Co Ltd, said the products are well-accepted among a wide group of customers, as proved by the constant growth in sales to more than 1,000 units over the seven-year period.

The firm caters to the lifestyle of new-generation customers who seek convenience and safety, as well as an aesthetic design that together make Aritco the truly smart home-lift solution, said Tana. Given the rapidly ageing Thai population, the company has invested over Bt100 million to create the first flagship showroom on Rama III Road. It aims to follow a gallery format to showcase different models of home lifts to create comprehensive solutions to best match all customers’ demands, said Tana.

Customers will be able to experience Aritco home lifts in the relaxed atmosphere of a co-working space while being served with beverages of their choice. The showroom will also function as the data centre, where engineering teams are stationed to offer after-sales services with a real-time surveillance system employing advanced computerised technology, to ensure that all Aritco lifts are in perfect condition 24 hours a day.

In addition to the flagship showroom in Bangkok, the company is planning additional showrooms in major cities, including Chiang Mai, Khon Kaen, Chon Buri and Phuket.

Aritco aims to become the leader in the home-lift market with sales expected to double over the next three years, from 1,000 to 2,000 units.

Aritco (Thailand) Co Ltd has for seven years ago imported, installed and marketed Aritco products, by appointment of Aritco Lift AB, Sweden, said Martin Idbrant, chief executive officer of the parent company. The company firmly believes that the Thai company will showcase the strength of the Aritco brand and grow sustainably in the long term, said Idbrant.

Thai executives have so far shown a broad vision with the needed knowledge and experience to raise the quality of life of Thai people to meet international standards. The products have been increasingly recognised by Thai customers, due to the quality of the installation and after-sales services and maintenance by professional engineering teams provided during the warranty period, said Idbrant.

“The company is ready to be cooperative in all aspects and will continue to be innovative in the development of lift technology to support Aritco [Thailand] to remain at the forefront of the home-lift market in the country,” he said.

The latest model of the Aritco home lift was designed by prominent Scandinavian designer Alexander Lervik. It is the first of its kind to be so meticulously designed to meet the needs of an in-home lift.

Aritco is the world leader in the manufacture of home lifts for home installation, building lifts or platform lifts for public spaces.

DVM Chadon Suwanarit, managing director of Royal Canin (Thailand) Co Ltd, said the Thai people are have shifted their pet-related behaviour. In the past, animals were kept to help watch over the house or catch the rats, but pets are today viewed as companions and cared for like a family member.

In order to respond to this trend in which dogs and cats are properly cared for to ensure their health, the company has focused on educating pet lovers about good nutrition via many channels, including through veterinary clinics, breeders, pet shops and online platforms.

The company has recently developed an application, “Royal Canin Club”, to help dog and cat owners understand how to take better care of their pets. The app hosts much useful knowledge related to cat and dog age and breeds and is sourced from nutritionists and veterinarians.

“Due to the 8 million dogs and 4 million cats in Thailand’s urban areas and cities, the Thai pet-food market has seen an increasing trend every year, with demand from pet owners rising an estimated 4-5 per cent per year,” said Chadon.

“Driving factors include the changing lifestyles of Thai consumers. Thai people tend to be in more and more of micro family. They are also health conscious, remain single or have fewer children. Therefore, pets become their life companions. Pets become family members. The pet owners are concerned more about pets’ health, and are willing to spend more on valuable products for them to make their pets healthier and live longer.”

The overall market value of dog and cat food was estimated to be over Bt15 billion, with local manufacturers and importers providing more than 30 brands, said Chadon.

The market could be categorised into two groups based on marketing and distribution channels. First, the grocery and modern trade channel (convenience stores and supermarkets) commanded 40 per cent of the market share with a growth rate of 1.2 per cent last year. Second, the speciality trade channel (pet food shops, veterinary clinics and breeders) controlled the remaining 60 per cent with a 7.3 per cent growth rate last year.

Royal Canin had ranked the third in overall market but has remained in second place within the speciality trade channel. The company expected to reach the top of the channel next year, as supported by the organic growth of dog and cat food markets, as ever-more people take dogs and cats as family companions.

It is expected that the market for dog and cat diets will grow by 5 per cent next year, with the higher growth projected in cat food.

Regarding the company’s sales, Royal Canin (Thailand) is confident of achieving its sales target of Bt2 billion this year, 12 per cent above last year’s Bt1.8 billion.

The company plans to expand the nutrition-focused diets for dogs and cats by educating pet owners and through adding additional marketing and distributing channels. It has marketed its products via pet shops (70 per cent), veterinary clinics (25 per cent), breeders (3 per cent) as well as another 2 per cent via e-commerce, a new marketing channel added since late last year in order to expand the customer base.

Meanwhile, “Royal Canin” has emphasised the importance of establishing good relationships with pet owners through marketing activities and sale channels that suit their behaviour. The company will participate in the Pet Expo 2019, which is on May 30 to 2nd June 2, 2019 at Bangkok International Trade & Exhibition Centre (Bitec).

“Royal Canin has spent over 50 years collaborating closely with animal experts, scientists, breeders and veterinarians to understand their unique dietary requirements. We have accumulated a vast amount of knowledge about cats and dogs’ needs based on their size, age, lifestyle, life stage, breed and specific health needs,” said Chadon.

“Notwithstanding that we’ve dedicated our lives to creating the most precise formulations of nutrients through long-term scientific observation, we have also moved forward to educate our partners, customers and consumers about the nutritional diets for pets,” he said.

“Our ambition is to be the health reference through nutrition for cats and dogs.”

AIA and Medix are partnering to deliver a differentiated proposition that optimises care and improves medical outcomes for AIA customers across the region. Under the expanded regional partnership, which they say is building on the successful collaboration between AIA and Medix in Hong Kong and Singapore, the companies will work together to launch in more markets in 2019, including Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Australia. Additional markets are planned for launch in 2020 and beyond.

Under the exclusive partnership with Medix, selected AIA customers will have access to “personal medical case management services” during some of the most challenging times of their lives, according to the release. When diagnosed with a serious or complex condition AIA customers will be supported by a dedicated case team throughout their medical journey, from diagnosis through treatment until full recovery. They will gain access to a holistic medical assessment, re-evaluation of their condition, referral for additional diagnostic testing – and where needed, ongoing multi-disciplinary consultations, full care coordination, on-going guidance and emotional support provided by Medix’s team of medical experts from around the globe.

Eligible AIA customers will have their medical case reviewed by Medix’s team of 300 in-house physicians and a global accredited network of more than 3,000 world-leading and independent medical specialists, ensuring they have the tools to make educated, quality-driven decisions and receive the best possible care throughout their medical journey, anywhere in the world, the release said.

Ng Keng Hooi, AIA’s group chief executive and president, said in the release that the announcement underscores AIA’s commitment to meet the growing and changing needs of customers and to help people live “healthier, lLonger, better lives”.

“With the advances in medical treatments and technologies, the expectations of Asian consumers have changed significantly, with personalised, quality medical care at the top of their list. This strategic partnership with Medix exemplifies our leadership role in driving economic and social development across the region. It demonstrates our pledge to go beyond the traditional, passive insurance business model by becoming an integral part of our customers’ life journey” he said.

Mark Saunders, AIA’s group chief strategy and corporate development officer with responsibility for healthcare, underlined AIA’s strategy and deliberate investment in helping improve the health and well-being of its customers. He said, “AIA’s expanded partnership with Medix represents a significant step forward in delivering our long-term strategic vision in the health and well-being space, where we’ve invested significantly and consistently over the past several years. It builds on a highly successful partnership in Hong Kong and Singapore, where we’ve been able to provide Medix’s unparalleled medical case management services to our customers”.

“To successfully deliver on our vision to help people be healthier for longer, we are building an ecosystem of services and partners to help people on all steps of the health journey through predict, prevent, diagnose, treat and recover stages, improving their overall well-being. Our exclusive partnership with Medix across our markets enhances AIA’s distinctive and differentiated proposition in health and well being. By providing our policyholders with personal medical case management, AIA helps overcome local healthcare disparities and makes international expertise, locally available through a mutually beneficial collaborative process,” Saunders said.

Sigal Atzmon, CEO of Medix commended AIA’s visionary and innovative approach to driving meaningful improvements in people’s lives across the region.

“This is a partnership that will make a genuine difference; it represents a shared vision and a commitment to reduce unwarranted healthcare variations across the region, and improve medical accessibility, medical outcomes and most importantly, the overall care experience” Atzmon said.

“Through this partnership, we provide personalised medical care, empower patients with the knowledge and tools they deserve to make educated decisions and offer active coverage in the daily lives of each policyholder. As such, we are enabling an unprecedented democratisation of the entire healthcare landscape.

“AIA, as one of the world’s largest and leading insurers should be applauded for the courageous, pioneering spirit they have shown over the last 100 years,” said Atzmon.

“Their vision and commitment to improving the lives of their customers [and] people across the region is unwavering and we are honoured to be a part of their next chapter.”

“The key ambition for our three-year business plan is to focus on covering upstream and downstream for both the paper and plastic businesses through joint ventures for kraft paper and plastic film, as well as downstream for food paper and plastic pouches,” said Vorawat.

He said BG Packaging Co Ltd (BGP) has plans for mergers and acquisitions in the near future. Potential businesses include kraft paper, corrugated box capacity expansion, plastic film for flexible packing and labels, and pouch expansion for flexible packing.

Vorawat said the key challenge faced by packaging business operators was new competitors entering the market due to the low investment required. The company’s strategies for the next three years would be to overcome this challenge and to ensure sustainable growth to become a one-stop service and to offer the full package of caps, bottles, labels and boxes at one time.

BGP manufactures and sells a variety of packaging products, including crown caps, plastic closures, PET bottles, crate containers and corrugated cartons.

He said another risk factor of concern to the company was the possible increase in the prices of raw material, both plastic and paper, due to the higher price of oil. BGP aims to tackle the cost problem through development of a “strategic partnership”.

“We will purchase raw materials continuously from particular suppliers in higher quantities. This will help us to reduce raw material prices in the third and fourth quarter of this year. In addition, we will be able to control the prices of plastic raw materials to be at an appropriate level to control the manufacturing cost. For paper raw materials, we need to see the direction of paper exports in many markets, especially recycled paper from China, as it will impact market prices of paper in Thailand,” said Vorawat.

He said BGP also is interested in expanding production of crate containers and corrugated cartons, which are currently supplied to beverage manufacturers. The company is looking to expand its packaging customers to those producing other goods such as foods and sauces, electronic products and parcels. That expansion is expected by next year.

“We expect to achieve Bt1.8 billion in total revenue this year, of which Bt800 million will be from paper boxes, Bt350 million from plastic bottles, Bt300 million from caps and Bt350 million from labels,” said Vorawat.

Then over the next three years, the company’s expansion plans target potential Asean markets, focusing on plastic caps, PET bottles and labels in CLMV countries (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam).

“We have seen continuous growth of the domestic packaging markets both in Laos and the Philippines. In Laos, the demand for packaging products has increased significantly due to fewer packaging manufacturers, especially for plastic labels. In the Philippines, BGP has strong competitiveness, especially in pricing. By ensuring good quality and reasonable pricing, we believe our packaging business will grow in these markets,” said Vorawat.

The key driving factors for business growth are the high growth of the paper business in the food and e-commerce segments, as well as flexibility of the packaging business driven by high growth in the food and household segments.

Tunyawat later led the centre to research and develop ways to cash in on this abandoned value, and finally proposed that the company produce refined tuna oil as a new business.

And now, the long journey of extracting value from the remains of tuna-fish has reached its destination. Crude fish oil extracted in Samut Sakhon province is being shipped to Germany, where Thai Union’s new marine oil refinery is purifying the oil to be sold in the market.

A view of the Thai Union Marine Nutrients marine oil refinery in Rostock, Germany.

Five months after the seafood giant’s “Thai Union Marine Nutrients” oil refinery in Rostock, Germany, began operations late last year, they have so far sold 250 tonnes of refined tuna oil to one of the world’s top five infant formula manufacturers.

In the past, the company had treated tuna fish heads as a waste and normally sold it as animal feed at Bt6 per kilo, but after being transformed into refined oil through state-of-the-art technology it has become a value-added product, Tunyawat said.

“And it could increase its value a 100 times if it were developed to the highest level for use as an ingredient in pharmaceutical products,” the director said, during a recent visit to the refinery by a group of Thai journalists.

Tunyawat Kasemsuwan, the director of Global Innovation Centre.

The new oil refinery business is the brainchild of the cutting-edge GIC, which researched for years how to utilise and add value to tuna, the core product of Thai Union.

It is also part of the company’s strategy to create a sustainable future for the tuna industry by innovating to maximise the valuation of the whole fish processed by Thai Union, one of the world’s top four tuna manufacturers.

With a $24-million (Bt764 million) investment in the refinery, the executives are confident of boosting Thai Union’s total revenue.

Leonardus Coolen, managing director of Thai Union Ingredients [TUI], said the timing of the investment in the oil refinery business was good, as it came amid high demand for refined tuna oil.

Coolen cited two reasons: First, refined tuna oil contains a high natural DHA concentration, which is a vital component for baby formula milk and contributes to a baby’s brain development.

Second, due to a new European Union regulation requiring a doubling of the percentage of DHA in infant formula in 2020, it is expected that the market would need additional sources of refined tuna oil, said Coolen.

Tuna oil is considered one of the best sources of Omega 3 and DHA critical to human health and infant development.

“It [the refined oil] will be the future of our company if the value of refined oil and all other co-products can contribute more than canned fish,” Tunyawat added.

In the meantime, Thai Union could also achieve “zero waste” from what is left from their production process, he said.

Whole supply chain

Thai Union has four or five refined tuna oil competitors worldwide, but it has an advantage over its rivals because it owns the whole supply chain.

“We produce raw tuna, have our own tuna factory, and produce crude tuna oil and then refine it at our own factory,” said Coolen.

Leonardus Coolen, managing director of Thai Union Ingredients.

“By having control over the entire production chain, we can focus on quality and sustainability from dock to door while employing traceability in the picture and focusing on sustainability throughout the supply chain,” he added.

Traceability combats IUU (illegal, unreported and unregulated) fishing, ensuring operational compliance on vessels to manage the fish by-catch, and stamping out illegal or forced labour.

Moreover, by owning the fish from which the oil is extracted, the company can secure the required volumes for customers – unlike refined-tuna-oil-producing competitors who need to source crude oil in the market, added Coolen.

Thai Union’s crude tuna oil is extracted at its Samut Sakhon tuna-processing facilities from raw tuna heads – the best source for highest-quality tuna oil – before being shipped to its refinery in Rostock via the port of Hamburg.

Inside the Thai Union Marine Nutrients marine oil refinery in Rostock, Germany.

Apart from being located in a tech-driven region, the refinery is geographically well positioned as it is close to most of its customers, Coolen noted.

He expects its key customers to be large multinational companies, such as Nestle, Mead Johnson, Danone, FrieslandCampina and Abbott.

The firm has projected Bt800 million in revenue from both crude and refined oil this year, he said. The current price of refined tuna oil is $12-$15 per kilo, and $7-$8 for crude oil.

The firm will have a 25-30 per cent market share when the refinery can produce at its full capacity, or 5,000 tonnes annually, said Coolen. Full capacity is expected to be achieved within the next three to five years.

TUI is a business unit under Thai Union Group, and was established in 2017 to meet the growing demand for natural, seafood-derived products beneficial to human nutrition, such as marine Omega-3 fatty acids. It also aims to commercialise a new business-to-business line of high-value ingredients identified by its innovation centre.

The firm has been exploring opportunities to expand into production of other nutrients, including a wide range of protein products and bone calcium, Tunyawat said.