Beko sees fall in sales of white goods

Beko Thai Co, the marketer for Beko electrical appliances from Turkey, forecasts that Thailand’s large household appliance market will see a 1-2% contraction in the first half of this year as consumers’ purchasing power has yet to rebound.

Pornchai Trakultechadej, marketing and product management director for Southeast Asia, said the 24-billion-baht market for large household appliances will also shrink because the weather is not as hot as it was last year.

Large household appliances or white goods i nclude refrigerators, freezers, washing machines, microwave ovens and rice cookers.

A large inventory of air-conditioners in the first quarter will result in more intense competition among brands, who will cut prices to attract customers in the second quarter.

“We won’t join a price war but we will go to the mass premium segment with 100 products to be launched this year, including a full range of refrigerators, aiming to triple sales and distribution channel coverage,” said Zafer Ustuner, regional director for Asia Pacific.

The Beko brand, owned by Turkishbased Koc Holding AS, entered Thailand in 2014. It chose Thailand as its electrical appliance production hub in the Asean region due to promising growth prospects and rising demand after the formation of the Asean Economic Community.

Beko Thai has spent US$100 million to build a refrigerator plant at its production facility in Rayong province with capacity of 300,000 units per year.

The company plans to triple production capacity at its Rayong facilities to pump out 1 million units of air conditioners and other Beko electrical appliances over the next several years.