In Thailand Hypermarket Sales Are Forecast to Increase by 47% to 2012, Compared to the Industry Average of 63% - Thailand Food & Drink Report Q1 2008

Business Wire,  March 14, 2008  

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DUBLIN, Ireland -- Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c85970) has announced the addition of Thailand Food & Drink Report Q1 2008 to their offering.

The Thailand Food & Drink Report provides independent forecasts and competitive intelligence on Thailand's food and drink industry.

As the exact nature of the restrictions to be placed on mass grocery retail (MGR) expansion in Thailand have become clearer during the latter half of 2007, so has the fact that - despite their repeated threats - the country's leading MGRs are not yet done with Thailand after all. With all firms now subject to cumbersome central planning procedures and with international retailers required to amend their shareholding structures to become majority Thai-owned enterprises, there had been a fear that investment in Thailand's retail sector - one of its most important industries - would decline. However, developments from the last few months show that retailers remain committed to the market and the industry forecasts analysed in this report plainly show why.

The newly-named CP All - re-branded to reflect its commitment to more than just its franchised 7-Eleven operations - has reaffirmed its desire to expand in Thailand, announcing in late 2007 that it would open over 300 new convenience stores in the country in 2008, as well as extending the roll out of its new 999 convenience brand (the convenience network it operates separately from its 7-Eleven franchise). Meanwhile, Central Food Retail has been bullish about its chances of building market share, revealing that it could yet extend its innovative new community mall concept to 50 outlets as it looks to position itself at the forefront of premium grocery retailing. Both announcements follow news from multinationalbacked AEON (Thailand) Co, Siam FamilyMart and CenCar in the summer of 2007, that all were pursuing further expansion strategies in 2008.

Such commitment is of little surprise to us. Yes, Thailand is a challenging market with political uncertainty and government interference both clouding the picture for investors; and yes, this interference has forced us to amend our industry forecasts downwards in certain sub-sectors - for example, hypermarket sales are forecast to increase by 47% to 2012, compared to the industry average of 63%, while volume sales of alcohol are set to grow by just 13.8%, thanks to a strong anti-alcohol lobby and volume sales of cigarettes will fall by 3.5%, thanks to the government's highly efficient anti-smoking measures.

Nonetheless this is a very opportune market. We are forecasting annual average GDP growth of 5.1% to 2012, while unemployment will remain low and inflation will remain stable. Within this economic environment consumer confidence will be high and food consumption in overall dollar terms is forecast to increase by 18.5% to 2012, as the population continues to trade up to higher value food and beverage products. Innovative industry categories that are free of, or can circumvent, government legislation, are set to be the main beneficiaries of this strong domestic market: the soft drinks sector which we expect to grow by 30.8% to 2012, and the convenience retail sector, in which sales are forecast to increase by an enormous 100.7% over the next five years, being two such examples.

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For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c85970.

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