Thailand first for Food Quality in SE Asia

Some interesting articles in the local press about new investment in food production
Thanks to a good local supply of quality raw materials, Japanese-based Lotte has invested Bt800 million to set up a Koala's March cookies factory in Thailand. The facility is Lotte's biggest manufacturing plant in Southeast Asia as the company bids to expand its business in the region.
At the outset, the facility will focus on producing the company's chocolate cream-filled, koala-shaped cookies under the Koala's March brand. Capacity is set at 1,500 tonnes per year, and Lotte plans to distribute in not only Thailand, but also other Asian countries.
The company said the factory would also be a manufacturing hub, thanks to the local availability of quality flour, milk and other ingredients. Processing will be controlled under Japanese standards.
An industry source said Lotte's management had decided to move investment from China to Thailand, as it was concerned about food contamination. Lotte also sent officials to source and test the quality of materials in Thailand, and they were found to be of high quality.

Recently China has had very high profile problems with food quality, last year a major scandal erupted when the industrial chemical melamine was found in milk powder, the stuff turned up everywhere, all over the country and even in Singapore and Australia. When bulk milk powder is sold one of the tests is the protein content, someone had discovered that adding melamine boosted the reading giving a higher value product. Unfortunately it was in a lot of baby milk powder and the babies all suffered from serious kidney failure and some died.
Another leading Japanese manufacturer of confectionery products has just announced investment in Thailand to stimulate production and sales within Southeast Asia and other potential markets, such as India, with its large population

Rising international demand for Thai cuisine has encouraged Ampol Food Processing to increase its export market, with its international sales soon expected to equal domestic revenue especially for the company's coconut milk and ready-to-cook curries, thanks to the increasing popularity of Thai food.

At present the biggest foreign investors in Thailand are number one Japan, then followed by EU, Taiwan, US, Hongkong, Singapore. China is expected to grow very quickly and could be number one in 5 years