Chia Tai rewards country with capital
(Chen Qide)
09/07/2001
Chairman of the board of Chia Tai Group, Dhanin Chearavanont, hopes not to be treated as a foreign investor though he has invested about US$4 billion in China. "I'd rather be treated as an overseas Chinese to enjoy the compatriot treatment," Dhanin said. "After all, I am a Chinese by origin though my nationality is Thai," said the chairman, who toured Shanghai last weekend seeking further investment opportunities in China. Dhanin said he has confidence in the Shanghai market. "The business environment is excellent," he said. Shanghai's gross domestic product has been growing at a two-digit rate in the face of the world's slowing economy. Dhanin revealed his investment plan for the Shanghai market, with four more Lotus Supercentres and new 7-Eleven convenience stores planned. The plan is part of Chia Tai's US$1 billion investment programme over the next five years. The Chinese market accounts for a considerable part of it, he said. Chia Tai was developed from a small shop opened in Bangkok in 1921 by two brothers, Ek Chor and Siew Whooy from South China's Guangdong Province. Their business was importing seeds from China for sale to Thai farmers. In those early days, they never thought they were developing what was to become one of Thailand's largest and most successful conglomerates, a powerful force in Thailand's development and a major Asian player on the global stage. The youngest of Ek Chor's sons, Dhanin Chearavanont, acted as chairman in 1989 to push forward the group's business in the Chinese mainland, which involves agriculture, retail sales, motorcycle manufacturing and real estate. Chia Tai's investment in Shanghai was delayed by the Asian financial crisis in 1997. But it has regained confidence in the city's investment environment. Shanghai, with a population of 14 million and a fast-growing economy, is an ideal venue for Chia Tai's investment. "If its door opens to Chia Tai's 7-Eleven stores, we can run one every day," Dhanin said. These stores, linked by an electronic system, will offer customers a convenient way to pay their electricity, telephone, cable TV and Internet bills. He believes that Chia Tai can do more in developing e-business services in Shanghai, which will provide more job opportunities for local laid-off workers. "We can teach them how to run a small store, including purchasing goods and managing business through our wholesale services," Dhanin said. He said Chia Tai's Shanghai-based TM International Bank is considering joining with foreign banks to provide loan services for Chinese small enterprises. "We are revising the plan which will be delivered soon to the People's Bank of China for approval," Dhanin said. Agribusiness is still at the heart of Chia Tai's activities today, he said, with its food company accounting for nearly 70 per cent of the group's annual revenue. Therefore, agribusiness will remain its core business in China, Dhanin said. But it can now be viewed in the wider perspective of serving the changing needs of China's 1.3 billion people, of whom 70 per cent are in the farming sector. The chairman said Chia Tai will bring advanced chicken-raising technology to China's farmers so that a farmer can raise 40,000 to 80,000 chickens with modern facilities. "If he reaches the limit, he can be rich very soon," Dhanin said.
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