Kao to Build New Plant in Thailand

Bangkok, Sept. 9 (Jiji Press)--Major Japanese household products maker Kao Corp. <4452> is planning to build a new Thai plant in the central province of Rayong, President Michitaka Sawada said at a press conference in Bangkok on Tuesday. The new plant will make products for supply to the Thai market and serve as a base for exports to neighboring countries such as Cambodia and Myanmar in the lead-up to the creation in late 2015 of the ASEAN Economic Community among the 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, according to Sawada. In spring this year, Kao secured a 165,000-square-meter site within the Eastern Seaboard Industrial Estate in the province for the construction of the new plant. Sawada said that the company chose the industrial park because it has advanced infrastructure such as roads and a port that can be used for goods transportation to neighboring countries. Details of the new plant, including its production capacity and when it will go on stream, have not been decided yet, he said. Meanwhile, Sawada said that the company plans to actively invest in the ASEAN region. Sawada is visiting Bangkok as this year marks the 50th anniversary of Kao's launch of operations in Thailand. The company established Kao Industrial (Thailand) Co. in September 1964 as its first overseas subsidiary. Kao makes household products such as shampoos and detergents, and chemical products like surfactants at its plant located within the Amata Nakorn Industrial Estate in Chonburi Province, also central Thailand, for sale mainly in the country. END