Thai Packaging Report 2007

At present, the way of life of the Thai people has changed according to the worlds trend, the environment and more are engaged in industrial work. The consumers behavior therefore has also changed. The salary earning people has no time to cook their own food as has been the practice before. They need more conveniences for eating, in getting new food that is clean and safe and needs only minimum time for preparing. There fore, foods that are easy to drink, ready to eat and ready to cook become increasingly popular. What follows is the industrial packaging that should respond to the needs of such industry. The main packaging that is in used is divided into 4 groups, i.e. paper packaging, plastic packaging, metal and glass packaging. The usage rates for paper packaging is 35-40%, plastic is 25-30%, metal packaging 15-20% and glass is 12-15%. Other kind is 1-3%. Paper packaging is popularly used and there is a tendency for an increase since it is environmental friendly and there are about 300 factories, big and small, which manufacture these various papers packaging such as corrugated box, Paperboard box, Paper bag and multi-wall paper sack. Plastic packaging expands rapidly due to its good quality, appropriate cost and those which can replace glassware, with a total production of about 120,000 tons per year. There are about 1,200 factories, both big and small, which produce various kinds of packaging for consumers products such as packaging for food, cosmetics, drugs and various forms of packaging for appliances. There are 2 kinds of metal packaging, i.e. metal and aluminum. There are about 100 factories, big and small, that produce can packaging, box, tin, tanks, collapsible tube for food, drinks, drugs and house paint packaging. There are about 30 factories for glassware packaging, with 6 big factories that have the capacity to produce 1,800,000 tons of bottles for food stuff, drinks, cosmetics and drugs. Glass packaging does not grow very fast since it is being replaced by plastics and aluminum tin. Packaging, products and economy of the country grow in parallel. There will be many factors, both positive and negative, that will affect the economy of the country. In the present globalization world, the era where trade competition has increasingly becomes important, there are many strong competitions; trade agreement between partners, groups is various regions of the world (FTA, AFTA, and WTO) in order to build negotiation power and open world free trade. Thailand is one of the countries who play an important role in exporting agricultural products, industrial agriculture and industrial products. Thailand export them to about 170 various countries all over the world through important markets such as U.S.A. Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Malaysia, Netherlands, Taiwan and Germany. The export products are divided into agricultural products, agricultural processing products, industrial products, minerals/fuel and other products according to the following statistics: Export Values By sector Agriculture Year 2003 Year 2004 Year 2005 Year 2006 8,757/11 10,330/10.7 10,448/9.4 Food Processing 5,950/7.4 6,375/6.6 7,010/6.3 8,050/6.2 9,481/6.5 Industry 61,214/76.5 74,616/77.3 86,779/78.2 100,085/76.8 112,312/77.0 US$/in% Mineral/Fuel Other Products 2,303/2.9 3,680/3.8 5,128/4.6 6,690/5.1 5,834/4.0 1,776/2.2 1,530/1.6 1,589/1.4 1,980/1.5 2,188/1.5

13,425/10.3 Year 2007(F) 15,315/10.5

The export value of Thailand increases each year. In 2005, the export value is 110,953 million dollars US which is an increase of 14.9%. in 2006, it is 130,230 million dollars US, which is 17.5%. it is expected that in 2007, the export value will be 146,500 million dollars US, which is an increase of 12.0%. Since there is an expansion of the market to countries in the middle east, Africa, Latin America, eastern Europe and other regions throughout the world. There has been considerable development of products and packaging for the countrys grass root level or the grass root level in the past, local community products or OTOP products, SMEs products. As a result, OTOP products have been able to expand its market both internally and at the international level each year. Industrial packaging cannot grow by itself but it will grow in parallel with the product, how big or small will depend upon the number of products. Every product should have packaging to prevent itself and to increase its product value. If production is high, packaging will also be high, it is like a shadow. If the economy of the country is good, both internal and foreign trade will also increase. Production will rise and therefore resulting in the rise of the use of packaging. It is like a chain that is tied to each other forever. Packaging therefore becomes an economic indicator for the country. For any year when it is shown that packaging rate is high, it would means that production is high as well. When consumers have the purchase power to buy products, it would mean that consumers have good earnings and this is a reflection of the countrys economy. Therefore, how will industrial packaging be for 2007, many view points should be taken into consideration, both the risk and the supplementing factors which may have both positive and negative impact on the countrys economy. With the present production capacity and technology for Thai industrial packaging, it is capable of providing services at all levels. In order to be able to compete with the worlds market, Thai industrial packaging should always be modernized and updated, the products should be protected from damage, their life span should be extended as long as possible, its image should be outstanding enough to attract those who saw, its product value should increase, it should be able to respond to consumers behavior, it should be in line with the modern market, and it should be able to adapt to the new and changing delivery system and technology in production. Therefore, the form of packaging should be properly developed to suit the consumers need. Packaging, besides preventing and increase its product value, it should also help facilitate its consumers and be environmental friendly. For the future, the use of various form of packaging will increase, i.e. Portable Packaging for snacks foods and others, Aseptic Packaging, Standup Pouch Packaging, E-commerce Packaging, Antimicrobial Packaging, Biodegradable Packaging, Photodegradable Packaging and Environmental Friendly Packaging. All these forms of packaging will increasingly have more roles and will be used tremendously both internally and abroad according to the number of products made for the worlds population. Form the reasons mentioned above, industrial packaging in Thailand for 2007 will continue to grow which should not be less than 12%