Amid the political vacuum and economic slowdown, Betagro Group, a local food business, is set to pursue its long-term investment project to build one of the biggest livestock farms in Lop Buri province.
Betagro’s commercial sales will double by 2020, says Mr Vasit.
Located on 5,000 rai in Phatthana Nikhom district, the farm will be a venue for developing parent stock for chickens and hogs to support the growing livestock business in Thailand.
Sales of meat have improved continuously in recent years because of urbanisation, giving consumers in the provinces the opportunity to acquire meat more easily, said Betagro president Vasit Taepaisitphongse.
He said room for expanding the meat business in Thailand remains huge thanks to low consumption of meat among Thais.
Mr Vasit said the expansion of the livestock farm complex is part of the 4-billion-baht investment the company has committed to for each year through 2020.
The expansion will increase production of chicken parent stock from 3 million chicks a week to 5 million and the number of pig breeders to 140,000 head annually in the next seven years from 100,000 at present.
Mr Vasit said the extensive expansion will double commercial sales for Betagro Group to more than 140 billion baht in 2020, up from 76 billion baht last year.
Betagro this year projects sales to expand by 15% this year, driven partly by demand for raw chicken meat in Japan.
Japan, which had prohibited the import of raw chicken meat from Thailand since 2004 due to bird flu, lifted its ban last December.
The first shipments from Thailand are on their way to Japanese consumers.
The industry expects Japan will buy 50,000 tonnes from Thai exporters in 2014, taking two years for volume to reach 200,000 tonnes the level at which Japan purchased from Thailand before the outbreak.
Japan and Europe are major importers of Thailand's cooked chicken products, the only type that could enter those markets in the wake of bird flu.
Mr Vasit said Thai fresh chicken meat in Japan must vie against products from Brazil but voiced confidence that Thai products are competitive due to skilled labour and shorter delivery times.
"It takes our products 7-10 days to reach Japan compared with a month from Brazil," he said.
"In addition, Thai chicken firms can supply tailored chicken or kirimi, a small portion of chicken."
The better export market could drive Betagro's chicken sales to expand strongly from 24 billion baht last year.
Sales revenue includes 10 billion baht each from animal feed and food processing, 8 billion from the swine business and 18 billion from regional business.
Although the outlook of the domestic market is uncertain due to the expected slow economy in the first half, the group will stick to improving sales locally.
The domestic market contributed as much as 80% of revenue for Betagro last year, with the rest from exports.
Mr Vasit said the expansion of the farm complex in Lop Buri will strengthen Betagro's supply chain in the local livestock industry and probably alter the revenue structure of domestic versus international to 87% and 13%, respectively.
Besides the investment in the farm complex, the company also plans to add more animal feed factories and food processing plants in western Thailand.
Betagro will also introduce more Japanese and Asian food restaurant chains to the Thai market this year.