Thailand belongs together with China and South Korea to stable and dynamically developing markets of the South-East Asia. For us, these three countries have been very important business partners for many years.The Thai market has been successful for us in the field supply of laboratory and pharmaceutical equipment for more than 15 years. A very interesting business potential for us represents the relatively high concentration of laboratories and pharmaceutical companies as well as the growing purchase power of approximately 80 million of inhabitants.
At the present time, there are about 40 steam sterilizers STERIVAP® HP and UNISTERI® HP in operation in Thailand, delivered directly from BMT and several hundreds of driers and incubators, including 3 VENTICELL® IL, supplied by our daughter company MMM Medcenter. Both of our local sales representatives already have experienced sales and service teams and they have arranged many positive references for a significant market position.
After approximately 3 years of stagnation, the Thai economy has returned to growth by the end of 2017 and we have decided to use it for our further sales success. Following a 4-day training meeting for business partners in Bangkok in early 2018, focusing on thermal engineering, we have already held a number of meetings with heads of laboratories and owners of pharmaceutical companies in Bangkok and around the world together with our dealers in the first half of 2018. We succeeded to be invited to take part in tenders for their new projects.
Around the middle of 2018, a decision was adopted regarding the first of seven projects under review. We won the order and we managed to get an order for another new UNISTERI® HP 559. During the autumn, a decision was adopted for other 5 projects and we won all of these projects. In total, we received orders for 6 sterilizers STERIVAP®, 2 UNISTERI® and 1 unit VENTICELL® IL 404 Easy. The first two sterilizers have already been shipped to customers in Thailand, the production of others is in progress, and in the forthcoming weeks there will follow the FAT and their expedition.
One of our great and positive references is the pharmaceutical company GPO in Bangkok, which has already bought 12 steam sterilizers in the past years. The last five of them are located in the new, modern, manufacturing premises of the company.
The Thai market is highly demanding and competitive. We are glad that not only Thai managers and company owners, but also two Japanese companies, have decided to purchase our steam sterilizers in the modernization of their manufacturing factories in Thailand. This appreciation of the quality of our products pleases us the more that we have succeeded against competitors from Italy, China, Switzerland, Sweden and the USA.
12. 03. 2019