Tourism growth to drive longevity packaging demand
Eka Global, one of the world’s leaders in longevity packaging, sees higher consumer consumption driven by growing tourism industry in Thailand will boost longevity packaging demand. Following this trend, Eka Global is strongly confident of positive sales in the first quarter and expects 10-15% annual growth across three business groups – ready-to-eat food, premium pet foods, and green products.
Mr. Chaiwat Nantiruj, Group CEO of Eka Global, said that the growing consumer consumption trend in 2024 is contributed largely to higher consumer confidence on domestic economic stimulation measures and the expanding tourism industry.
During the New Year period, the Tourism Authority of Thailand forecasted that the tourism industry would enjoy over 54 billion baht revenue, an impressive growth of 44% due to an influx of foreign tourist arrivals. TTB Analytics forecasted that Thailand’s tourism industry would generate 2.75 trillion baht this year after the industry full recovery. Meanwhile, inflation is likely to be lower than last year.
Household debts, however, remain high. Despite this fact, consumers will continue to spend on necessities, especially food, dining and food delivery.
Another interesting trend is the increasing purchasing power of the “modern parents”. This trend is confirmed by the high spending during the recent Children’s Day. Thai parents continue to pay as much as they can to find the best products for their children regardless of the economic situation. Over 10% growth in the 4-5 billion-baht children development toy market is a clear proof of this trend. Other children’s products, foods and drinks also enjoy similar growth rate.
Chaiwat added that for over 20 years Eka Global has been in the future packaging industry and supporting big and small, local and international food manufacturers, both in normal time and during COVID-19 pandemic. The company has become a trusted partners. Its high-quality longevity packaging has been widely used by food manufacturers in all segments – desserts, coffee capsule, soup, baby foods, cooked rice, ready-to-eat meals, fish and seafood, dairy products, vegetables and fruits, salad, fruit juices, drinks, premium pet foods, etc.
“Modern food processing and manufacturing technology has helped maintain nutritional values, taste, texture, flavor and quality of the food products without using preservatives and, at the same time, lengthen shelf life. Eka Global’s high-quality packaging that is light-weight, hygienic, and environmentally friendly, is the right solution for visionary food manufacturers. When the modern food processing technology is combined with future packaging, consumers can be fully confident of food safety and enjoy less time for food preparation, convenience for both storage, consumption and availability on shelf.”
Chaiwat noted that although there were lots of challenges waiting in 2024, environmentally friendly longevity packaging continues to see high growth potential due to growing demand in food export market. This trend has positively driven the company’s sales beginning in the second half of 2023 and continues this year.
Eka Global also enjoys satisfactory growth across all business groups – ready-to-eat food packaging, premium pet foods packaging, and green products. This trend is clear both in domestic and international operations. Its Indian operations has enjoyed over 100% growth annually.
“We believe the strong growth trend will continue in the first quarter this year, for all the three business groups. This year, we expect our overall sales would grow by 10-15% from last year, which is similar to 2021 growth rate,” said Chaiwat.
