On February 15, Siam Del Monte Company Ltd. (SDM), a manufacturing subsidiary of Del Monte Asia Pte. Ltd. (DMA), held an opening ceremony for its new plant in Trat, Thailand. Participants included Yuzaburo Mogi, Chairman and CEO of Kikkoman Corporation, as well as representatives of DMA, River Kwai International Food Industry Co., Ltd. and Samroiyod Corporation Ltd.

More than one hundred guests attended the ceremony, including Hideaki Kobayashi, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to the Kingdom of Thailand, Banphot Hongthong, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives of the Royal Thai Government, and Boonchouy Kerdsukon, Governor of Trat Prefecture.

Welcome speeches by Mr. Mogi and Andrew Cushman, CEO and MD of SDM, were followed by addresses from Ambassador Kobayashi and Secretary Hongthong. After a performance by Thai dancers, they activated the plant production line, thus commencing a successful launch of SDM operations.

The SDM Trat plant will produce food products for the Del Monte brand, including sweet corn, pineapple, fruit cocktails and tomato-based products which will be distributed throughout Asia. The SDM plant will utilize Tetra Recart packaging technology, which should also serve as a barrier against counterfeit products. In its initial year, SDM will export to Hong Kong and Singapore, and plans to follow up in markets such as China and Korea.