Farm machinery maker Siam Kubota Corporation (SKC) set a five-year business plan to develop a foothold in Thailand with annual revenue of 100 billion baht by 2023.
"With this ambitious plan, SKC expects its revenue to grow by 10% annually," said president Hiroto Kimura.
"SKC will allocate a budget of 2 billion baht for marketing campaigns, production upgrades and R&D activities to achieve the target," he said. "Roughly 300-400 million baht has been set aside for 2019 operations."
As most countries in Southeast Asia have a focus on agriculture, there are supportive policies from each government. SKC plans to launch new farm machinery to stimulate regional markets during 2019-23.
For Thailand, the government is encouraging farmers to run a smart farming scheme, Mr Kimura said.
"Thailand has policies to support farming efficiency and increase crop prices, so SKC has to develop its farm machinery using innovation and technology," he said.
SKC reported revenue in the first half of 2019 totalled 27 billion baht, up 9% from the same period last year. Some 17 billion baht came from the domestic market, while 10 billion stemmed from Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and Latin America.
In 2018, SKC posted revenue of 53 billion baht, up by 3.9% from a year before.
Some 60% of its revenue for the period came from the domestic market, while 40% was from exports, largely to Southeast Asia.
Mr Kimura said revenue from the domestic and overseas markets will balance at a half each by 2023.
"Sales of farm tractors will reach to 60,000 units in 2023 from 38,000 expected this year and combine harvesters will reach 6,000 units sold from 3,400 units in 2019," he said.
Founded in 2010, SKC is a 60:40 joint venture between Kubota Corporation and Siam Cement Group.
SKC operates factories in Nava Nakorn Industrial Park and Chon Buri's Amata City Industrial Estate, with annual production of 240,000 and 80,000 units, respectively.
The Nava Nakorn factory normally produces diesel engines and power tillers, and also serves as the site for Kubota's parts distribution centre and R&D hub for Asean.
Tractors and combine harvesters are made at the Amata City facility.
SKC has 80 dealers spanning over 200 branches nationwide.
Mr Kimura said the widespread drought in Thailand is pressuring farmers' purchasing power and income, so many of them have postponed buying new agricultural machinery.
"SKC have to introduce new appropriate products to support the drought situation in Thailand and each province has suffered from different types of drought," he said.