The 500 million-baht (THB) Surapon Nichirei Foods plant in Kabin Buri, Prachin Buri province, will concentrate on processing safe, high-quality products poultry meat products for export to Japan and Europe, reports The Nation of Thailand.

The company also plans to penetrate Asean as well as the domestic market, with annual production capacity increasing by 30 per cent to 22,000 tonnes.

Surapon Nichirei Foods is a joint venture of Surapon Foods and Japan's leading processed food manufacturer, Nichirei Foods. The company is in line with Surapon Foods' policy to seek greater opportunities in the comprehensive processed food businesses and to manufacture and export frozen processed chicken.

Surapon Vongvadhanaroj, chief executive officer of Surapon Foods, a leading global frozen food manufacturer, said frozen processed foods were today very popular and in demand in overseas markets. Therefore, the company was looking for the opportunity to continue expanding into more varieties of frozen processed and ready-to-eat food so as to boost its sales in various markets.

Mr Surapon said: "Our new factory will focus on the production of frozen fried and steamed chicken as core products to be marketed in Thailand and Asean and exported to the Japanese and European markets. There are still opportunities for business expansion in those markets, where frozen processed chicken products are still in high demand."

Built with an investment of Bt500 million and occupying 18,500 square metres of building area on an 11-rai (1.76-hectare) plot, the Surapon Nichirei Foods plant is the company's second factory in Kabin Buri, he said.

"We decided to expand our manufacturing base here to benefit from greater opportunities in Prachin Buri both in income and distribution growth. With the opening of the new factory, the company will be able to increase its total production capacity [from all four factories] by 30 per cent to about 22,000 tonnes per annum."

He added that the company's first two factories in Samut Prakan had combined capacity of 5,000 tonnes per annum, whereas the third factory in Kabin Buri had production capacity of 12,000 tonnes per year. The annual production capacity of the new factory will be 5,000 tonnes.

"We manufacture safe, high quality frozen food products for export to consumers throughout the world," Surapon said. "With professionalism and more than 22 years of experience, we emphasise modern and environment-friendly manufacturing facilities with internationally approved quality standards," said Mr Surapon.

In building the new factory, the company recognised the importance of energy and environmental conservation by installing an air-conditioning system without CFC (chlorofluorocarbon) refrigerants that are among the major causes of global warming. The factory also utilises the same compressors for airconditioning and the product chilling system.

"The pipes for the chilling water with high quality insulators were designed to be under the building. We also use [high-efficiency fluorescent] and LED [light-emitting diode] energy-saving light bulbs in this new factory," Mr Surapon told The Nation.

Surapon Nichirei Foods was founded in 1988 to engage in the production of frozen processed and semi-processed food for export. The company is a joint venture between Surapon Foods with a 49 per cent share and Nichirei Foods with 51 per cent.

Both companies have international expertise in the frozen processed food industry. They shared their knowhow and experience to cooperate in development of Surapon Nichirei Foods.