PANNING FOR GOLD
Firm vies for bigger piece of global pie
US cookware maker Meyer will continue to invest in Thailand, allocating at least B500m over the next five years.
Meyer Corporation, a leading American cookware manufacturer, will continue to invest in Thailand, allocating at least 500 million baht over the next five years, says a senior executive.
About 100 million baht of the amount will go towards manufacturing automation, product innovation, research and development and other facilities, said Joseph K.C. Lo, general manager of Myrex Thailand Ltd, the distributor and marketer of Meyer cookware in Thailand.
The expansion in Thailand is intended to increase Meyer’s competitiveness in the world’s fierce cookware industry.
More than 95% of Meyer’s global production capacity is from its Laem Chabang factory in Chon Buri. The Thai-made cookware products are exported worldwide.
Mr Lo said Meyer has continuously invested in Thailand for almost 20 years and wants to gain more support from the Thai government, particularly for privileges offered to companies that have long put money into the country.
He said investment privileges should include more tax cuts on imported machinery and greater flexibility in bringing in engineers to work in Thailand.
“The Board of Investment has emphasised high-tech and electric vehicles. We still need more skilled engineers and will ask the government to support us on this issue because we have invested here for a long time,” said Mr Lo.
Currently, Meyer has three cookware production bases in three countries — Thailand, Italy and China. The Meyer factory in Thailand is the company’s largest cookware production base, capable of churning out 50-60 million pans per year.
The products are exported to over 30 countries, i ncluding the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, Japan and the Middle East.
Currently, 75% of Meyer’s global cookware sales are from the US and Canada, while 5-10% come from Asia. Meyer plans to increase the sales contribution from Asia to 10-15% over the next five years.
He said that despite the size of Meyer’s footprint in Thailand, its cookware business in the country is still small. The company, therefore, sees opportunities to expand its business here.
“We aim to double our business size in Thailand over the next five years,” Mr Lo said, without providing an exact figure.
He said its sales last year saw negative growth of 5%, although the local economy and consumer spending power proved better in the first quarter of this year. Likewise, the company’s first quarter sales grew by 25%, higher than its 20% growth projection.
Myrex aims to grow its sales by 20-30% this year, and will move forward with brand building, product innovation and marketing activities.
Thailand’s cookware market is estimated at 8 billion baht. The market grew by 5% last year, with 10% growth forecast for 2017.
Myrex controls 10% of the cookware market.
The market has been very active since the introduction of the Korea King brand, which rolled out a large promotional campaign via home shopping channels last year.