Thai Wah Plc, a starch and starch-based food company, is optimistic about the global economy in 2023 and projects revenue growth of nearly 20% to 12-13 billion baht.
Though some analysts predict a global recession this year, Thai Wah sees opportunities to benefit from its business expansion in Asia-Pacific and the recovery of demand for its products as China's economy reopens, said Ho Ren Hua, chief executive of Thai Wah.
Last year the World Bank warned of a global recession in 2023 after central banks raised interest rates in response to high inflation.
Beijing announced the reopening of its borders from Jan 8.
"We are confident that the global economy will continue to recover, helping drive up our revenue growth," said Mr Ho.
Thai Wah, which specialises in business-to-business trade in the starch-based food segment, plans to expand production, distribution and sales in 15-20 locations across the Asia-Pacific.
The company plans to start operating new production facilities in China, Vietnam and Cambodia within 2025.
In 2022, Thai Wah saw its revenue increase by 14% year-on-year to 10.4 billion baht due to strong sales growth across all markets, with significant performance coming from its core starch and food business in Thailand and Vietnam. Both countries registered double-digit growth.
Native tapioca business accounted for 49% of total sales, followed by high value-added products (32%) and food business (19%), said Mr Ho.
The company is aware of risk factors such as the fluctuating foreign exchange rates. The stronger baht will affect its business as 80% of its products are exported.
Thai Wah plans to allocate 300 million baht to invest more in renewable energy in order to brace for higher energy costs which continue to increase.
The company has already adopted solar energy, with power generation capacity of 2.4 megawatts, and will increase the capacity to 9MW this year.
"We plan to invest in rooftop solar and floating solar panels, with total capacity of 15MW, in 2025," said Mr Ho, adding this is also part of efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
The 300 million baht is part of the company's 2023 investment budget worth 2 billion baht.
It plans to allocate 500 million to 1 billion baht for merger and acquisition plans.