Due to the economic slowdown in Europe, DHA Siamwalla Ltd, a folder manufacturer, will relocate its factory in Poland to Asean in two years to take advantage of the Asean Economic Community slated for 2015.
Mr Suharit displays some of the new Elephant folder products.
Managing director Suharit Siamwalla said the company is considering either Indonesia or Myanmar for the plant, which requires about five rai of land.
The factory will produce paper folders to serve the global market.
"We established a joint venture in Poland for two years. But when the economy in Europe flopped, we decided to temporarily close our plant and move it to Asean," he said.
"Asean has huge demand and a similar culture to Thailand, so we hope Elephant will become a regional paper folder brand one day."
The company will spend time studying demand, logistics, trade barriers and wages before choosing a plant location.
Siamwalla has a combined production capacity of 45-55 million pieces per year, up from 30 million folders before the flood. Of the total, 40-50 million folders come from its factory in Navanakorn Industrial Park, Pathum Thani, with another 5 million from a factory in China.
The capacity serves both the domestic market and 80 countries.
Mr Suharit said the company spent 700-800 million baht to renovate its inundated factory in Navanakorn, which was fully operational starting last month. Siamwalla figured opportunity loss and asset damage at 800-900 million baht.
"Thailand is now Asean's third-largest paper folder manufacturer, after Malaysia and Indonesia," he said.
The company relaunched its Elephant paper folder yesterday and introduced office supplies such as staples for the first time. It will spend about 100 million baht to promote these two products this year. Mr Suharit is the product presenter.
Elephant product sales this year are projected to reach 1.2 billion baht, jumping to 2 billion by 2015. Some 10% of its paper folders are exported, though the proportion should rise to 20% in three years.
Total sales are expected to hit 3.2 billion baht, up from 3 billion last year.