– Joint Ventures with Partners to Build Two Lime Plants in India
– Aims to Become One of the World’s Top 10 Leaders of the Industry
BANGKOK — Chememan PLC, Thailand’s largest lime and derivatives chemical producer and distributor, began trading today on the Stock Exchange of Thailand as CMAN (SET:CMAN). The company highlights its vision to become one of the world’s leading producers of lime and lime derivative chemical products by expanding production capacity to one million tonnes per year by 2020, and is committed to expanding the lime market overseas and increasing its client base in 10 industries in over 20 countries worldwide.
Mr. Adisak Lowjun, Chief Executive Officer of CMAN, is confident of a strong reaction from investors. Judging from response to the company’s Initial Public Offering (IPO), investors have shown that they believe in the potentials of Chememan. The company stands ready to step up as one of the world’s top 10 leading producers of lime and lime derivative chemical products according to the vision set out for the company. It is expanding its production capacity to meet the demand for lime which has been continuously increasing and also to boost the company’s competitive edge at the global level.
Chememan is currently pursuing joint ventures with two local partners in India to build two lime plants – one in Visakhapatam and another in Tuticorin – which are key ports and industrial zones of India. The plants will produce and distribute lime and mineral limestone products in India which is a market with high growth potentials. It is expected that the two plants will begin commercial operation in 2019 and will increase Chememan’s combined total production from 900,000 tonnes per year at present to one million tonnes per year by next year.
The company is convinced it has the capability to become the leading producer of lime and lime derivative chemical products in Asia since it is already the largest producer and distributor in Thailand. Chememan is also the only lime business operator in the country to have both production plants and a 25-year concession (ending 23 June 2040) from the state to mine Ultra-high Calcium Limestone. This will benefit quality control and security of raw materials as well as provides good opportunities for growth and market expansion domestically and internationally in the future.
“We see the opportunity for growth in the lime market from the demand for our products both here and overseas. Our products are used in the production processes of a great variety of industries such as pulp and paper, sugar, bioplastic, construction, construction materials, and steel industries. Therefore, we adopted the strategy to expand both the domestic and foreign markets. The oversea markets are our key targets to generate revenue and to capture market share in the future from our current client base in more than 20 countries worldwide,” Mr Adisak said.
Mr. Paiboon Nalinthrangkurn, Chief Executive Officer of TISCO Securities Ltd., in his capacity as underwriter, said Chememan has good business fundamentals and competitive potentials as well as production plants and mining concession from the state. This provides good security for production and source of raw materials. Additionally, it is also the largest lime producer and distributor in Thailand and is the leading producer of lime and lime derivative chemical products in the Asia region. The company distributes products to many industries both domestically and internationally which gives it good risk distribution in terms of markets.
“I believe that Chememan shares will capture the interest of investors because lime products have a wide client base and can be used in the production processes of a variety of goods. At the same time the company has a team that is knowledgeable and understands the lime industry well. It has continuously researched and developed products and expanded foreign investment which will give it good prospects for increasing market shares both domestically and abroad,” Mr Paiboon said.