Mr. Chaiwat Nantiruj, Group CEO of Eka Global Co., Ltd., said that the world's food industry faced significant changes due to the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic. As people were locked down and had to work from home, they tend to stock more food. Similarly, Thai consumers followed the trend and have looked for longevity food packaging. Thai SME food producers have also realized the trend and looked for packaging innovation as a means to increase business opportunity. This development has also contributed to the company's sales to double in the past year compared to 20-23% average domestic food industry growth.
In support of the rising demand for food safety and new normal lifestyle, Eka Global plans to launch automation technology in its production facilities to reduce human contact to the products and to avoid the contamination within the production plants. Automation technology will also help lower risk of infection that may affect Eka Global's workforce and production activity.
Chaiwat forecasted that another rising trend in 2021 is the increasing demand for environmentally-friendly, recycleable and biodegradable packaging. Eka Global, therefore, will focus on making itself an innovation-oriented company with commitment to full circular economy support. The company believes this will be the concrete foundation for sustainable growth.
In addition, innovation, research and development will be the center for its business activities. With full support for innovative production development, the company would enhance its capability to achieve zero waste, enabling it to become a truly green and sustainable food packaging producer. At the same time, Eka Global will be able to create balance in natural resource optimization in its business activities.
"Eka Global's existing products are already 100% recycled," said Chaiwat. "We can do better through more intense research and development, such as the plan to produce packaging from green plants rather than petroleum products. We have to always move further. Consumer behavior changes endlessly, so we have to be flexible. We have to understand the market. We have to have a vision and see through the future. Back by strong R&D, Eka Global hopes to become the organization of the young generation, the home to innovations, and the trend setter."
In parallel to business development, Eka Global is strongly committed to growing sustainably with Thai SMEs by adopting India model. Eka Global earlier helped India's SME food producers successfully grow their business and export food products to the world market and later become major player in the global food export market. The company is confident that this model will be successful when it is implemented in Thailand.
Eka Global recently introduced a pilot project which selected SMEs were invited to join. Under this project, participating SMEs, mostly food and dessert producers in Bangkok and suburban areas, had a chance to test how long their product shelf life was extended when stored in Eka Global's innovative packaging. The success of the pilot project has encouraged Eka Global to extend the project throughout the country to provide SMEs nationwide with easy access to its innovative longevity food packaging products, including those produced to support Modified Atmosphere Packaging Process (MAP) technology. From nationwide implementation, Eka Global is looking for the opportunity to expand its market to the neighboring and other Asian countries.
"COVID-19 has brought rapid change to the food industry. Food producers of all sizes have to search for new sales channels and reach wider markets. From sales in their local shops, food producers today have to look into the regional or even overseas markets too. We see huge opportunity for SMEs and, of course, our own business opportunity that comes with this new industrial trend as well as the continuous growth of our existing customers, who are large food producers."
For SMEs who are interested in MAP technology and longevity food packaging or wish to attend free training at Eka Global's lab, please visit www.eka-global.com or call 038-574-187
Source: Make A Wealth Consulting