Thai Union’s subsidiary, Songkla Canning Public Company Limited, has formed a new company in Japan focusing on the pet food business.
Songkla Canning, which is 99.55 percent owned by Thai Union, holds 90 percent of shares in its new subsidiary, the Japan Pet Nutrition Co., Ltd., with another shareholder, Takehiko Miura, controlling the remainder. Japan Pet Nutrition has registered capital of JPY 5 million (USD 45,600, EUR 37,350), Thai Union said in a statement on 1 June.
The establishment of the new subsidiary is “to expand the sales of pet food and pet related products in Japan, to distribute Thai Union Group’s own-branded products, build relationship with new customers in Japan and identify new business opportunities for Thai Union Group,” Thai Union said.
The company said last month its sales of pet care and value-added products in the first quarter rose 20.8 percent year-on-year to THB 5.47 billion (USD 175 million, EUR 143.3 million) in value and surged 16.1 percent year-on-year to 72,957 metric tons (MT) in volume. Thai Union said its focus on sales of higher-margin and newly launched products contributed to the robust figures. The fact that people had more time for their pets during the pandemic also helped boost the sales in the period, the company said.
Thai Union posted just over THB 1.8 billion (USD 57.9 million, EUR 47.6 million) in profits for the first quarter of 2021, compared to THB 1 billion (USD 32 million, EUR 26.4 million) in 2020 – growth of 80 percent. Overall, the company’s gross profit for the period was THB 5.5 billion (USD 177 million, EUR 145 million) compared to THB 5 billion (USD 160 million, EUR 132 million) in 2020.
Thai Union attributed the strong gross profit to the “recovery of frozen and chilled seafood,” along with an increase in demand for pet care products and its value-added business.
