SCG Packaging has earmarked 7 billion baht for 2019 to expand business in Southeast Asia, emphasising demand from four core industries: food, beverage, logistics and e-commerce.
This budget allocation excludes merger and acquisition plans in the region.
Some 5 billion baht is to increase paper packaging capacity from 200,000 tonnes to 230,000 tonnes a year in the Philippines.
The remaining 2 billion baht is for a new paper packaging project in Vietnam with a capacity of 20,000 tonnes a year, allotted for operation maintenance plans.
Tanawong Areeratchakul, president of SCG Packaging, said the Philippines operation is scheduled to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2020.
SCG Packaging has total production capacity of 2.5 million tonnes per year in Southeast Asia, mainly for paper packaging.
Thailand has the largest capacity at 1.8 million tonnes per year, followed by Vietnam at 500,000 tonnes and the Philippines at 200,000 tonnes.
The company invested in widening its production base in Indonesia and food packaging production base in Malaysia, hoping to service greater demand for safe and eco-friendly packaging.
"Southeast Asia has high potential for the packaging business because the economic landscape is robust, propelled by megaprojects and infrastructure schemes expected to drive the GDP in each country," said Mr Tanawong.
SCG Packaging expects the packaging business in Southeast Asia to grow by 5% in 2019.
The packaging business in this region is worth US$50.5 billion (1.6 trillion baht), a 5% rise from 2018.
"We expect 2019 revenue from Thailand to grow at the same level," he said.
In 2019, SCG Packaging expects total revenue to rise by 5-7% from 87 billion baht in 2018, thanks to economic expansion and demand in the packaging sector.
SCG Packaging contributed 18% to Siam Cement Group's revenue in 2018.
Mr Tanawong said the company is looking for new business partners, both domestically and overseas, to expand the packaging business.
"We are in talks with other companies and expect to complete a deal by 2019," he said.
In addition, SCG Packaging will apply circular economy methods to business operations to support mutual and sustainable growth.
SCG Packaging has worked to develop and design closed-loop paper and plastic packaging that is simple to use, eco-friendly and recycled as high-quality plastic film packaging.
The next strategy is creating innovation and applying digital technology by emphasising R&D efforts to improve products that meet diverse customer needs and training staff with new skills to stay relevant amid rapid changes.