FLOUR POWER

SET-listed TS Flour Mill is seeking a foreign partner with which to expand into highervalue downstream products.

SET-listed TS Flour Mill (T Mill) is seeking a foreign partner with which to expand into downstream products.

T Mill is in talks with potential partners, including those from Japan and South Korea, to jointly expand business and produce ready-to-use wheat flour products, said vice-chairman and managing director Chankrij Dejvitak.

He said the company plans new business channels to reach consumers directly instead of using the business-to-business model of the past.

“The companies we are interested in partnering with are food production companies that can help us move forward in terms of innovation and new technology,” he said. “We want to increase the value to our products to get higher margins.”

T Mill was founded in 1977 as a subsidiary of Thai Sugar Group, which was primarily owned by Khon Kaen Sugar Plc.

Mr Chankrij said the deal to partner with a foreign company is likely to be sealed soon, with new projects proceeding in the Eastern Economic Corridor in order to get investment privileges from the government.

“T Mill plans to develop new wheat products to serve demand from older people as Thailand becomes an ageing society,” he said. “We are doing R&D to create new products with higher value.”

The company has set aside 1 million baht for R&D this year.

In 2017, T Mill expects revenue growth of 10% to 1.43 billion baht as demand rises in the food industry.

The company posted a net profit of 70 million baht in 2016, up 22%.

T Mill plans to increase its production capacity to 252,000 tonnes a year, up from 180,000 tonnes a year at present.

T Mill is a major supplier of wheat to major domestic food companies, including those manufacturing instant noodles, pizza, steamed buns and feed.

Mr Chankrij said the company expects the wheat flour market to recover this year as the government’s economic stimulus measures boost purchasing power.

“We believe government projects will help increase income for those working in the farming sector and this will help improve purchasing power in general,” he said.

TMILL shares closed yesterday on the Stock Exchange of Thailand at 3.8 baht, up 2 satang, in trade worth 3.4 million baht.