COPENHAGEN: From Oct 1, Illum, Copenhagen's premium department store, will begin showcasing premium Thai goods, said Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanawisit on Sunday.
Mr Jurin said he has discussed the collaboration with Jan Ullstad, CFO of Illum, and the Office of Commercial Affairs will carefully select premium merchandise to go on display in the store along with in-store promotions of other luxury Thai brands, he said.
The government also is seeking to put Thai food products on the shelves of Meny Supermarket, a large, well-known chain run by Norwegian and Danish companies, which has over 100 branches in Denmark and almost 200 worldwide.
There are already food products from many Asian countries on sale there, added Mr Jurin. Most Thai products currently on sale at the store go through traders in the Netherlands under different brands, he said.
Mr Jurin added the Office of Commercial Affairs will liaise with the store to directly organise the labelling and delivery of the Thai products. It is unclear how much the trade is likely to be worth.
Direct delivery will both lower the end price for consumers and also make products such as ready-to-cook and ready-to-eat food more accessible, he said. The ministry has set a target of seeing Thai goods on the supermarket's shelves in 3-6 months, he said.
The Department of International Trade Promotion said Mr Jurin will attend the announcement of an agreement with the European Free Trade Association in Iceland today as well as a Joint Economic and Trade Committee meeting with the UK in London the next day.
Meanwhile, Mr Jurin yesterday met members of the private sector in Iceland who have begun importing Thai products to sell domestically at a hotel in Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland.
He said the Thailand delegation had told the group that they hoped to see a 10% increase, worth about 240 million baht, in sales of Thai products, particularly those related to the spa and health sector, to Iceland by the end of this year.