Canned food producer seeks new markets
Canned food producer seeks new markets
Canned fruit and vegetable producer Lao Agro Industry Company (LAICO) in Vientiane province, which cans and bottles fruit and vegetables, is focusing on finding more buyers in Asia while retaining existing buyers in both EU and Asean countries.
“So far we have not had a new customer in Asia because we are under the product price negotiation,” a senior company official, Mr Chanin Awakulpanich, said on Friday.
The company is trying to enter more markets in Asia however the Asian buyers want to buy at a cheaper price than is being offered.
Mr Chanin said that the South Korean market is interested in the Lao canned products after the company displayed them at fairs many times in Seoul recently.
The company is currently selling their canned products for US$14.50 per case, “however the Korean buyers want the price a little lower, at about US$13.20. We also have to pay for the import tax into Korea,” he said.
“Our exports to the EU markets are without import tax payment with the use of ‘Form A'. This means the EU markets have a policy to allow goods in free of import tax when they come from less developed or developing countries,” he mentioned.
Currently the company continues to export to its existing customers. It has a large number of foreign buyers in the UK, France, Germany, Poland, Vietnam and Thailand.
It cans sweetcorn and as well as producing pickled garlic and cabbage, rambutan in syrup, baby corn in brine, bamboo shoots, sweetcorn milk and palm seeds on its 5-hectare site in Thoulakhom district. It sources most of its raw materials from forests and local farms, although some vegetables are imported.
He said the company will export at least 200 containers of canned fruit and vegetables this year, a similar quantity to last year.
About 150 of the 200 containers will carry canned sweetcorn, with the rest containing palm seeds and other fruit and vegetables.
The Trade Promotion and Product Development Department reported recently that LAICO, which is one of the 15 local handicraft and agricultural producers who received trophies and certificates in March, had an export sales value of almost 52 billion kip (US$6.4 million), shipping more than 350 containers in the last two years.
LAICO's factory employs 300 people when there is a large supply of corn, both permanent staff and temporary workers.
The company produces an average of 3,600 tonnes of canned or bottled fruit and vegetables each year, with about 5 percent sold on the domestic market while the remaining 95 percent is exported.
It has three international accreditations which certify production and product quality, namely Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP), Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) and British Retail Consortium (BRC).
vientiane times
