PETpla.net Insider 11+12 / 2017

MATERIALS / RECYCLING PET planet Insider Vol. 18 No. 11+12/17 www.petpla.net 12 Tour Sponsors: Their local market share is about 18% which is better than that achieved by TCK and Precision Plastic. A large quantity of preforms are exported from Thailand to other parts of the world such as Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Mongolia, Fiji, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, etc. PET is exported throughout the world, including the Middle East and Latin America. What do the Thai people drink? “We are seeing a steadily increas- ing consumption of packaged water and a trend towards healthy drinks,” Mr Chandrasekar added. “In terms of packaged water, the Crystal comes out on top, followed by Singha then Nestlé,” says Vipin Kumar. “In the ready-to-drink teas category, Oishi and Ichitan are the strongest market brands. Japanese brands have always had an excellent reputation in this part of the world, although in this instance they are not from Japan but use a Japanese sounding name. Sports drinks have started becoming more popular in Thailand. Traditionally these have been in glass but recently there is a trend of new brands being launched in PET with larger serve sizes.” When asked about other appli- cations such as milk and alcoholic drinks, the team answers in the nega- tive. “This is very unpopular here. Milk products can come along at any time but here the market is determined by PE bottles and cartons. Beer and spir- its are and will continue to be glass dominated for the foreseeable future.” The whole Lopburi plant covers a total area of 40,000m 2 . Around 1,000 people work there including 200 employed in PET. We are now sitting in Indorama Ven- tures’ headquarters’ offices on the 35 th Floor of Ocean Tower II in the centre of Bangkok, near the well-known Sukhum- vit Road where the hustle and bustle of city life continues day and night. We are met by Mr Sunil Marwah, Senior Vice President, Packaging Business (he has been with Indorama Ventures for five years) and his colleague, Mr Weerasa- wat Chindanon, Sales and Marketing Assistant Vice President, Thailand (he has been with Indorama Ventures for nine years). He starts the discussions by quoting some very impressive key facts. “In Thailand, we produce 400,000t of PET each year, 85% of which goes into PET packaging for bever- ages, food and non-food items with the remainder used for PET sheets. Indorama Ventures’ PET sales growth in Thailand is 10% per year and is mainly driven by water. This growth has remained relatively stable over the years.” However, if you look at cooking oil in the food sector, below 5% growth is not so strong when compared with other South East Asian Countries. According to Mr Marwah, Indorama Ventures, along with Preci-sion Plastic, TCK Propet, Hon Chuan and Srithai, are active in PET packaging in Thai- land’s competitive market, while Thai Shinkong and Thai PET Resin are involved in the materials sector. www.indoramaventures.com Vipin Kumar next to the South East Asia Road Show banner F.l.t.r.: Kulprabhassorn Kritapongseth, Krishnaswamy Chandrasekar, Vipin Kumar, Govind K. Narkar and Manus Sornsa-Ard Taking a “closure“ look - freshly produced