Value-Added
The PetCare, value-added and other business category is a mix of many different items that include PetCare, seafood, non-seafood as well as sub-materials and sales of scrap. Examples of these items are surimi-based fish snack, canned cod liver, wet seafood-based cat foods, dog food, microwave oven ready meals, Chinese-styled dim sum, packaged cooking sauce, scrap from fish and shrimp processing lines (to be further processed for fish meal and fish oil), bakery products (namely, pies, soft cake and butter bread), empty cans for ambient seafood, printing service for can labels and other purposes, etc. Due to the great diversity of this category, there is no common pattern demonstrated among these items in terms of sourcing, distribution and consumption.
To meet a growing demand for natural, seafood-derived byproducts that are beneficial to human nutrition (e.g. marine omega-3 fatty acids), we continued to invest in our global business unit focusing on ingredients, which was set up in 2017.
In late 2018, we successfully launched the Thai Union Marine Nutrients tuna oil refinery in Rostock, Germany. With this plant, Thai Union has become the only refiner of high-grade tuna oil with complete end-to-end supply chain and production management.
Thai Union Ingredients will commercialize an exciting new B2B line of high-value ingredients identified by Thai Union’s cutting edge Global Innovation Center. We will control the entire production chain, working with high-quality byproducts, such as fish skin and fish bone, from our own seafood production facilities. The valuable nutrients derived from these byproducts will be used by manufacturers of nutrient-dense consumer goods such as infant formula, cosmetics, dietary supplements and clinical nutrition.
Our Thai Union Ingredients venture maximizes byproducts utilization in our processing facilities and is a key contributor to Thai Union’s growth strategy.
In 2019, sales of this category amounted to THB 18.6 billion, representing 15 percent of the Group’s total. PetCare contributed to the largest share. Sales from our own brands only accounted for about 7 percent of this category. In other words, almost all of the products are produced for our clients’ own trademarks or distributed through their own channels. Despite a lack of any common pattern or characteristics between these items, they generally command higher margins due to the multiple production processes involved, customized features, and high product standards. There is no fixed format of packaging due to the variety of this category.