Monday February 04, 2008
TCC group plans to take on cash crops
Major investments planned for the region
PHUSADEE ARUNMAS
Thai Charoen Cor****ation Group (TCC), the conglomerate controlled by
liquor tycoon Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, is gearing up to expand into
the agricultural industry in Thailand and neighbouring countries.
The investments would go mainly to ex****t-oriented agricultural
products and crops used in alternative energy to capitalise on the
strong growth of both sectors.
TCC Group established Plantheon Group as a holding firm for its agro-
industry ventures three years ago. TCC Group now operates four key
business lines: beverages, trading in consumer products, property
investment and development, and insurance and leasing.
According to Ananta Dalodom, Plantheon's executive vice-president, the
new business line was developed at Mr Charoen's initiative to add
value to some of his non-performing rural land assets.
''Mr Charoen is strongly interested in the agriculture sector, but he
has no plan to do business relating to livestock production. Ex****t-
oriented and energy crops match his interest,'' said Mr Ananta, a
former Surat Thani senator and retired chief of the Agriculture
Department.
Plantheon has four major business groups: sugar industrial business;
agriculture business; agriculture in foreign countries (notably in
Cambodia, Laos And Vietnam); and ''agriculture for the future'',
offering modern technology for plantations.
For the sugar business, Plantheon owns four mills with a total
capacity of 66,000 tonnes of cane per day under TCC Sugar Group, while
Plantheon Limited focuses on industrial crop plantations covering oil
palm, rubber, sugarcane and cassava.
Mr Charoen owns more than 100,000 rai of land in 54 provinces
including Bangkok. About 20,000 rai have been allocated to rubber
since 2004.
The group plans to increase rubber plantations by another 20,000 rai
by 2010, mostly in Nong Khai, Kanchanaburi, Chachoengsao, Rayong,
Prachin Buri and Loei. According to Mr Ananta, the plantations could
produce 10,000 tonnes of rubber sheet per year by 2017.
For other crops, the company plans to expand plantation areas for
sugarcane, tapioca and palm oil to cope with rising demand in the
future for alternative fuels, as well as grow rice on the 10,000 rai
in Nong Khai and Ayutthaya.
Currently, the group operates sugar mills in Lampang, Uttaradit,
Suphan Buri and Chon Buri. Mr Ananta said the group plans to plant
sugarcane on about 10,000 rai in Kamphaeng Phet and Sukhothai.
The company also intends to relocate its sugar mill from Uttaradit to
Sukhothai because the latter has more cane but no mill. With the new
mill, farmers will no longer need to trans****t crops to other
provinces.
The company is also looking to expand tapioca planting, mainly to
supply ethanol factories, Mr Ananta said. TCC now operates a gasohol
refinery in Bang Lane, ****hon Pathom, with a capacity of 400,000
litres a day.
Mr Ananta said the company had also already invested in 1,000 rai of
oil palm in Chumphon to supply biodiesel producers.
Besides agricultural investments in Thailand, Plantheon also sees
op****tunities in neighbouring countries, especially Cambodia, Laos,
and Vietnam.
The company has formed a joint venture with local partners in Cambodia
to grow oil palm on 68,750 rai in Koh Kong, Cambodia. Another project
in Cambodia also includes 52,500 rai of sugarcane plantations.
More than two billion baht has already been invested in Cambodia. The
palm oil business is operated by Mong Reththy Investment Cambodia Palm
Oil Co, while the sugar industry is overseen by the MRT-TCC Sugar
Investment Co.
In addition, the company operates a ****t management business in
Cambodia through Oknha Mong ****t Co.
The company is now applying for approval to develop 62,500 rai into
for an oil palm plantation in Cambodia that could produce about
200,000 tonnes of oil a year. A biodiesel factory is also in the
pipeline ithere, said Mr Ananta.
In Laos, the group has set up Paksong Highland Co with local partners
to grow sugarcane, coffee, macadamia nuts and horticultural crops such
as asparagus in Pakse. The investment is estimated to cost around
600-700 million baht. Its Arabica coffee should hit the market in the
next three years.
''We estimate more than five billion baht has been spent in those
agricultural and agro-business projects. We are set to invest more
than 10 billion baht in the near future to expand the TCC Group's new
business lines,'' said Mr Ananta.
''We believe Thailand's agriculture sector could be more powerful in
the world market, as no other countries in the world produce such a
wide range of energy crops such as palm oil, tapioca, rubber and
sugarcane.''
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