Dao-Heuang Group, a leading coffee producer in Laos, is set to enter Thailand next year via a contract to grow coffee on a 1,000-rai plot of land in the North.
This move is part of the company’s plan to boost its production capacity to meet rising demands once the Asean Economic Community (AEC) is launched in 2015, the group’s vice president Boonheuang Litdang said at a press conference last week.
The group, which is a member of the Laos PDR Coffee Federation, will also partner up with the Singapore Coffee Federation and other similar associations to set up an Asean Coffee Federation in the next two months. This is part of a move to promote coffee products produced in Asean to the global market, Boonheuang added.
She went on to say that the group was also planning to invest Bt20 million on a coffee-roasting plant in Ubon Ratchathani’s Warin Chamrap district this year. This comes after the group recorded sale of coffee products worth US$20 million in Thailand last year.
The group is also planning to open its first shop called the Tea Room by Dao Coffee in May to boost its growth in the Thai coffee market with the aim of achieving sales worth $40 million by 2018.
Meanwhile, Dao-Heuang’s production base in Thailand should cover demand in the region and is part of the group’s plan to meet 20-30 per cent growth on a yearly basis, Boonheuang said.
Dao-Heuang’s aim is to double its revenue growth target from $160 million this year to $320 million by 2018. Up to 80 per cent of the group’s total revenue comes from its coffee business, and the rest from its other businesses such as duty free, hotel, retail and property business in Laos.
Of its total revenue in the coffee business, 80 per cent comes from export.
The company exports coffee to Japan, the United States, Europe, China, Vietnam, Myanmar and Cambodia.
Separately, the group is also planning to spend $3 million on a 10-hectare coffee-drying yard in Laos this year, after it spent $100 million to build a coffee plant there last year.
Read more: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Laos-coffee-giant-eyes-Thailand-for-expansion-30231927.html
