The Philippines-based company, already one ofsouth-east Asia's biggest food and drink producers, made its first steps in the Thai beveragemarket when it bought a brewery from Thai Amarit Brewery in 2004.
But the acquisition of Australia's NationalFoods in 2005 gave it a new premium juice brand (Berri), which has recently been introduced intoThailand.
Now it wants to become a major player in thecountry's beverage market by adding an extensive range of non-alcoholic drinks.
"We want tomake ourselves a key player in the overall beverage market in Thailand in the next three to fiveyears," Chirawan Assavanich, San Miguel's Thailand marketing and sales director, told TheNation newspaper last week.
Next month, thecompany will introduce a new drinking water under the Nam Fa brand, initially on test markets in theeastern region, including Chon Buri and Rayong."We are alsointerested in launching other non-alcoholic beverages, such as functional drinks, which have highmarket potential," Assavanich told the paper.
Thai consumers areincreasingly interested in healthy foods and beverages, a trend that is reflected in the growingfruit juice market. Juice drinks have been growing annually by 10.7 per cent, reaching around 109million litres in 2004 or US$90 million, according to the US Foreign Agricultural Service.
San Miguel estimates Thailand's total fruit-juice market to be worth BT5 billion (€107m), withabout 40 per cent of sales from pure fruit juice products and the rest from juice drinks.
Domesticplayer Tipco claims to have a 43 per cent share of the high-end segment of pure fruit and vegetablejuice.
The company expectsits Berri imported 100-per-cent fruit juice to generate sales of BT10 million this year, accordingto the report. A further BT200 million will be earned by its SunBlest 40-per-cent juice, produced ina recently completed factory in Rayong since October last year.
