Thailand: Thai Beverage Plc plans to launch three new beer brands in 2006

Thai Beverage Plc (ThaiBev), the brewer of Chang Beer, announced on December 27 it is confident of maintaining its market lead for the tenth consecutive year in 2006 and plans to launch three new beer brands to raise its portfolio, The Bangkok Post communicated.

The company currently controls about two-thirds of the mass market with market leader Chang and Archa. The total beer market is worth 80 billion baht at present, and low-cost beer represents about 85% of the total.

“My ambitious plan for next year is to increase our share to 70% overall in the economy beer market, or 4% growth from this year,'' said Ueychai Tantha-ophas, the managing director of Thai Beverage Marketing Co, the company's marketing arm. Three new brands will be launched next year, he said, including Chang Light in the first quarter of 2006.

He declined to reveal any more details about the other two brands, apart from saying that one would be a standard-priced beer and the other a premium product to compete with Singapore's Tiger and Heineken from the Netherlands.

Mr Ueychai said the new brands would spark competition with several local and foreign brands in all segments of the market.

As a result, he projected the company's total market share would increase by between one and two percentage points next year. Currently, the company controls 60% of the 80-billion-baht beer market.

For 2005, Chang and Archa are expected to generate more than 40 billion baht in total sales, or a 3.5% increase from a year earlier. The majority of sales would be from Chang and include sales of draught beer. In terms of total beer volume, 960 million litres were expected to be sold this year.

The beer market was set to intensify in 2006, Mr Ueychai said, because of other players' plans to launch products in all segments. The market would also face restrictions stemming from the government's anti-alcohol campaign.

Somchai Suttikulpanich, the senior deputy managing director of Thai Beverage Marketing, agreed, adding beer market growth would slow to between 2% and 3% or stay flat in 2006.

In 2005, the total beer market was projected to have grown by 5%. Mr Ueychai said Thai Beverage planned to match this growth in 2006. The company's marketing budget stands at more than 160 million baht for brand promotion.

Thai Beverage, a holding company with 63 subsidiaries, earned 10 billion baht in net profit in 2004 on sales of 90 billion baht. The group is attempting to list on the Stock Exchange of Thailand, which has been opposed by civic and non-governmental organisations.

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