Once finalised, the company will set up manufacturing and distribution facilities in the country at a cost of THB150m-200m, to add to its two existing food-processing plants in Thailand that have a capacity of 97 tonnes per day.
A report in the Nation said that PFP was exploring new Muslim markets, especially Indonesia, in line with the government’s policy to make Thailand one of the world’s top five halal food exporters within five years.
"We chose Malaysia as it has strong credibility in the production of halal foods, being recognised by other Muslim countries, rather than Thailand or other non-Muslim countries," said PFP’s executive director, Thawatchai Ratanapisit.
The group will also gear up for more exports, with the aim of achieving 10% growth annually. Its main markets abroad will be China and Muslim countries, especially Indonesia.
PFP has been shipping processed seafood products, including imitation crab sticks, snow crab, fish tofu, Thai fish cakes, imitation crab claw, and imitation shrimp, worldwide for more than 30 years, and now covers 21 overseas markets.
Thawatchai said that PFP’s international sales last year were worth more than THB1.3bn (US$36m), of which 72% went to Asia.
The company also expects to expand exports to China, its biggest market for crab sticks, once the plant goes online.