Sri Trang Agro-Industry Pcl. (STA) is moving ahead with its investment plan in its two plants, including expanding production capacity of block rubber at its Bueng Kan plant to 87,600 tons a year and at its Trang plant to 70,080 tons a year, upping total capacity of all rubber products to 3.1 million tons a year. Modern technologies and automatic machinery help reduce the need for additional labor. The expansion in two concentrated-latex plants in Narathiwat and Surat Thani are expected to start producing concentrated-latex in August and December, consecutively, contributing to further growth and global market share expansion from 10% to 12%.
Mr. Veerasith Sinchareonkul, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of Sri Trang Agro-Industry Public Company Limited (STA), the world's leading producer and distributor of integrated natural rubber products and Thailand's largest producer of latex gloves, reports that during the past six months, the company's expansion of natural rubber production has gone according to plan to be in line with the growing demand and to contribute to the company's continuous growth. Recently, the company has completed its planned expansion in its two plants in the South, including increased capacity of block rubber at its plant in Bueng Kan province by 87,600 tons per year and in Sikao district of Trang province by 70,080 tons per year. This takes its total production capacity to 3.1 million tons per year, reiterating its position as the world's largest provider of integrated natural rubber products.
The capacity expansion at these two plants is made possible by the introduction of modern technologies and automatic machinery, which help speed up production, increase efficiency, and reduce production waste, without the need for additional labor. The expansion enables the company to increase per-person annual yield to an average of 35 tons by 2025, more than double the 2021 yield of 16 tons per person per year.
Although the current global economic outlook is concerned for being sluggish due to the rise of energy costs and inflation rates, STA's financial position remains strong with orders flowing unabated from local and overseas customers; hence, the company continues its capacity expansion as planned. By the end of the year, the expansion in two more concentrated-latex plants is to be completed, one in Narathiwat province with additional capacity of 18,396 tons per year in August, and another in Surat Thani province which expected to start operating in December with additional capacity of 113,004 tons per year, pushing its total yield of all rubber production to 3.31 million tons a year as planned.
"Our company is in a strong financial position, which makes it possible for us to keep investing in capacity expansion. Past investments have been financed by operating cash flow, proceeds from the issuance of debenture, and long-term loans from financial institutions. The company is well-prepared to expand in both local and overseas markets in order to increase sales and share of the global rubber market to 12% from 10% of previous year," says Mr. Veerasith.