Thailands PTT Lubricants will set up a lube storage facility for its Asean market and look into acquisitions to grow its overseas lubricant business, the company said.
PTT will establish the new storage facility in Chachoengsao province in central Thailand and expects to begin using it in the second half of 2019.
The facility will be equipped with new technology like artificial intelligence in warehouse management to become the storage hub for Aseans automotive lubricants, said PTT Lubricants Executive Vice-President Buranin Rattanasombat. No further details were disclosed.
The company also aims to increase its market shares in China, Africa and South Asia. PTT is seeking new assets for lubricant products in several countries to push its export sales to 50 percent of total sales by 2022, he added. PTT wants total sales to reach 400 million liters by 2022.
The companys lubricant exports reached 25 million liters last year. PTTs major markets are in Asia and include Myanmar, China and Vietnam. The Thai companys sales are growing fastest in Myanmar, having reached 10 million liters last year.
We expect to boost total sales by 5 to 10 percent this year because of increasing local demand and the company’s overseas expansion, Rattanasombat said. In 2017, PTTs total sales volume dropped 5 percent to 200 million liters.
The company expects the domestic market to grow by 3 to 5 percent this year. PTT claims to have a 39 percent share of the Thai market, which makes it the largest blender in the country in terms of sales volume.