Thai Union Increases 2008 Sales Projection

Thai Union Frozen Products, one of the world's largest seafood companies, has revised its projected 2008 sales from a 12 percent increase to 20 percent, The Nation of Bangkok reported yesterday.

In the first quarter of this year, Thai Union's sales increased 32 percent to $478.3 million, up from $361.6 million in the same period last year. In terms of the baht, sales jumped 20 percent from 12.8 billion to 15.4 billion.

"During the first quarter of this year, the appreciation of the baht [against the U.S. dollar], the record prices for oil and high fish prices have all been challenges for us," says Thai Union president Thiraphong Chansiri. "But we survived unscathed, thanks to our ability to deploy a host of countermeasures."

Among the measures were timely and extensive foreign exchange rate risk management, tight cost control, expansion of the company's customer base to gain market share, stringent quality controls and the introduction of new products.

"In spite of the adverse impact on Thai exporters of the dramatic appreciation of the baht caused by the Bank of Thailand removing its 30 percent capital reserve requirement, we managed to grow with a solid performance," says Chansiri. "This would not have been possible without our ongoing hedging policy to control foreign exchange risk exposure."

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