Condensed Milk producer hopes to diversify into beverage, other segments

Thai Dairy Industry, the renown producer of Mali brand of sweetened condensed milk, is now looking at diversifying into beverages.
Pinit Puapan, the company’s Deputy Chairman said that with relatively low average sales growth of 2-3% a year for the country’s Bt 6 billion (US$190.6 million) sweetened condensed milk industry, exacerbated by growing consumer health concerns, has led to the decision to diversify into other businesses particularly into beverages.
Pinit said that sweetened condensed milk has also been utilised as part of the ingredient in making many beverages like milk tea and he hope this can be expanded to include other products like beer, carbonated drinks and alcoholic drinks.
Thai Dairy Industry’s factory in Samut Prakan is the first factory in Thailand to manufacture sweetened condensed milk. The company now wants to give the brand a ‘younger’ image by launching new product categories such as plant-based condensed milk, using new innovative packaging and a rebranding strategy. Recently, the company has also launched Mali Easy Squeeze (condensed milk) in new packaging to target young families.
Despite the existing old image, the company saw strong sales in the 1st half of 2020 due to the pandemic as more people stay at home and consume products using condensed milk. It projected sales for the year 2020 to grow by 3-4% to reach Bt 3.7 billion (US$117.5 million). Despite the positive projection, the company is worried over a possible 2nd wave of pandemic infection, which will definitely affect demand for its sweetened condensed milk as restaurants/bakeries will have to close their operations again.
Presently, the market size for sweetened condensed milk industry is estimated at Bt 6-7 billion (US$190.5 million to US$222 million) with an average growth of 2-3%. The increase is driven largely by the entry of new dessert menus such as bubble milk tea and bingsu.