ladies, gentlemen and honorable guests
On behalf of the The Thai Printing Association, I would like to express my most sincere thanks to The Printing Technology Association of China or PTAC, the organizer of the ninth annual forum of FAGAT, for giving me the honor to present to you the landscape of the printing industry in Thailand.
About 150 years ago, Thailand – formerly known as Siam – was opened up to the art of printing in the reign of His Majesty King Rama the Fourth by Dr.Bradley, an American missionary, who introduced the first printing machine to the Kingdom. He put the machine to good use by printing the Royal Gazettes which included the proclamations of the many laws of the country. His Majesty also saw to it that Buddhist teachings were printed so that many more people would have access to them. Since then, printing has grown from strength to strength and, today; the Thai graphic art industry has more than five thousand companies including paper manufacture, graphic art design, pre-press house, printer of various printing systems and post-press house. Of the total population of sixty-three million, around one hundred and twenty thousand people are employed in this industry.
The Thai Printing Association sets the pro-active policy to expand the printing and packaging consumption in 2 dimensions; printing for domestic consumption and printing for export. Regarding the domestic consumption, paper consumption is currently very low in Thailand, at forty two kilograms per person per year. Compare this to the consumption rate of developed nations such as the United States of America at three hundred fifteen kilograms per person per year and the countries in the European Unions at two hundred fifteen kilograms per person per year and it becomes obviously clear that there is a huge potential grow for paper consumptions in Thailand, and I am confident that we can expand the Thai print market by a substantial amount. This is because the Thai government has enacted policies that are helping to create a great demand for print materials in five different ways. They are:
ONE:
The Government aims to transform Thailand into a society of knowledge by raising the age for compulsory education for every child to twelve years; they also put hard effort to encourage Thai students to be fond of reading by improving text book's pattern or layout and creating new curriculum to promote reading among their society ; by fast-tracking the modernizing processes of teaching and learning; and by improving the quality of education so that it is compatible with technological advances in this fast-changing world. A great number of school books are being printed for distribution to students nationwide. There have also been remarkable changes in the Thai public as higher education means that more Thais, on average, are reading more. This has resulted in the increasing numbers of new magazines and pocket books appearing on newsstands and shelves in the bookstores, of which more and more are opening up, making it easier for readers to access these print products. In addition, official organizations in printing industry established various activities to ignite and promote reading society, such as the big event called [The National Book Fair] hosting
at least 2 times a year, the feedbacks of which from readers are very successful.
TWO:
By promoting Thailand as the kitchen of the world, as the country is strongly positioned for the food and food products industries, Thailand has long been a big exporter of food products. In the past, most of this has been exported as raw materials but the Government is putting emphasis on exporting frozen foods which are either semi-prepared or ready-to-eat, which go to increase the value of these exports. This has created a big demand for food packaging for the export market.
THREE:
The One Tambon One Product initiative, often referred to as OTOP, is a program that has been introduced by the Government as it has been very successful in the Japanese town of Oita in promoting cottage industries which are enterprises at the grass-root level of any country. The Thai government has set a sales target of two point five billion US Dollars per year for OTOP products. The scheme is now in its third year and sales have reached two billion US Dollars. The secret of the success of Japanese OTOP products lies in the beautiful packaging and labeling. As such, the Thai government encourages the development of different packaging designs which, in turn, creates a greater need for different types of product packaging.
FOUR:
Thai government gives big support to Thai printing industry by its announcement of significant import tariffs reduction for printing machines, accessories, parts, printing raw materials more than 100 items to 0% so that Thai printers can perceive the cost reduction in order to be more competitive in World market and help provoke the Thai printing industry to expand into many other areas
FIVE:
This year, Thai government by the Ministry of Industry confers the budget of 22 million US dollars to promote Thai industries through the board of Small and Medium Enterprises Organization (SMEs). Thai printing industry has been selected as the Role Model to run the 4 proto-type projects including:
Laboratory Test Project : by establishing the center of standard test with most modernized equipments and tools so as to test all equipments and materials related to printing to meet the standard requirements. Another role of this lab test center is the research and development to elevate all printing equipments and materials to meet the international standard. In addition, this center also supports the research for new materials or products made by natural stuffs which can be found in the country and has its own identity. For example, Mulberry paper made by special tissues exclusively found in the North of Thailand now gains huge reputation worldwide. Also this lab will help testing any contaminations and toxics in the raw materials that are used for printing and packaging to ensure that every printing products is safe for consumers. If problems occur, the lab test center also can diagnose the cause and troubleshoot the problem to be accepted by environment protection organizations.
The 2nd Thai Print Award: This competition event is established in order to systematically lift up the printing quality of Thai printers to the same level as international standard. All pieces of awardees in 1st Thai Print Award are submitted by Thai Printing Association to compete in the 4th Asian Print Awards on November 21, 2006 at Shanghai, China. On such announcement date, Thailand gained huge success as it was awarded 19 medals, ranked No.3 in Asia. This can confirm the local and international buyers towards their confidence in Thai printed products. Consequently, Thai government showed its strong intention to keep supporting Thai Printing Association to continuously organize [Thai Print Awards].
Incubation Center Project: This project is established to incubate new and existing enterprises whose businesses involves with pre-press, press, and post-press areas. For new enterprises, the project will help them gain knowledge, skills, and expertise to meet the international standard and can run its own business most efficiently. For existing enterprises, the project will help them improve management skills in systematic mode so that their businesses will be more robust.
Printing School Project: this project is established to produce skilled printers and workers sufficient to serve the market demand and to help resolve the lack of the 10,000 positions in the market at present. It is co-organized with the Department of Vocational Education to create an intensive program and long-term curriculum with the support by government in terms of latest technology machines required for pre-press, press, and post-press. This school is located at Printing City, and the first course has already been started with 70 students.
Furthermore, the government confers the budget to establish Business Matching Project, allowing printing buyers and traders to meet and negotiate for business deal. This project exploited one pavilion in Pack Print International 2007 or PPI, held on April 26-29, 2007 in Bangkok, organized by the Thai printing Association and The Thai Packaging Association together with Messe Dusseldorf (Asia). In such event, there are more than 250 leading companies from 25 countries exhibiting their technologies and products on 15,000 square meters and can obtain the huge interest by visitors from more than 60 countries. The interest of visitors in PPI led to business matching as many printing buyers domestically and internationally shown their strong interest to buy printing products and packaging from Thai printers.
As for the export market, Thailand's export of printed products and papers were valued at one billion and one hundred eighty three million US Dollars in the year 2006, which is a fifteen point six percent increase on the year before. In 2007, we expect to generate the export values more than 1,420 million US Dollars, increasing by 15% from last year.
There are strong indications that this upward trend will continue. The reason behind this is the advantage that Thailand has in terms of availability of raw materials as our climatic conditions favor agriculture, so quick-growing trees are being planted for the production of paper. Currently eight hundred thousand acres of land are being put to the cultivation of eucalyptus trees, and we have many paper mills producing world-class paper for writing and printing purposes.
It is a well-known fact that paper is a major capital cost of print material, accounting approximately fifty per cent of the costs. It is this very factor that strengthens the position of the Thai printing industry, and will enable it to be competitive in the world market for many years to come. With this in mind, The Thai Printing Association has come up with a strategy for the printing industry which is to make Thailand the regional printing hub. The plan has been put forward to the Government and it has been approved. The Government fully supports the growth of the printing industry as it believes that this is one of export industries that have a bright future ahead of it.
Part of the strategy that will enable the regional printing hub to achieve its target is to bring all the industries associated with printing together, forming a cluster. In this scenario, the whole printing process right from pre-press, press, to after-press, including print supplies, will be brought together in one place. This will ensure the most efficient and beneficial use of resources. Moreover, the formation of the cluster will also reduce manufacturing costs such as expenses incurred by damages that can happen during transit, warehouse charges, as well as savings on storage space for products and raw materials.
This plan is now coming into fruition with the advent of the world's first full-service industrial park for the printing and packaging industry which has been given the name 'Sinsakhon Printing City and Industrial Estate'. It has the support of the Thai government who has appointed the Board of Investment to look into tax incentives to be given to the businesses operating from this industrial park. This will come in the form of an eight - year tax break which is considered to be the highest incentive from a government.
Currently, the infrastructure of Sinsakhon Printing City and Industrial Estate has completely been constructed and there are many parties interested in being a part of it. Eighty percent of lands allocated to Phases one and two have already been reserved. Until now, there are 12 companies whose factories have already been built and open. Those factories are owned by both domestic owner and also joint ventures with international firms, such as Fuji-Ace -The big flexible packaging printers from Japan. PMCL –Adhesive paper & labels from Singapore, and It is expected that in upcoming 2-3 years the number of factories will be more than 100 sites including the factories producing blankets, ink, rollers, paper warehouse following the concept initially set in the way that Sinsakhon will be the cluster of printing and packaging industry with the complete loop in the world and most importantly, Sinsakhon Printing City is operated with the environmental friendly policy.
The Thai Printing Association is very confident that Sinsakhon Printing City will be an important leap forwards for Thailand's printing industry. Sinsakhon will be the new print and packaging market of the world that can cater to every need of print buyers as it provides a one-stop shopping venue for those who are looking to buy printing services.
Last but not least, on behalf of The Thai Printing Association, I would like to take this opportunity to invite all of you to join together and form a business alliance with the Thai graphic arts industry for a shared future of success.
Thank you.
2007/07/12 00:00:00