Sahapathanapibul Plc, one of Thailand's largest local manufacturing and trading conglomerates, will spend Bt300 million this year to build a new energy-saving detergent factory.

President Boonchai Chokwattana said the new factory would complement the group's existing Chon Buri production plant, which has a capacity of 8,000 tonnes of detergent a month. That factory is operating at full capacity and cannot be expanded.

To be located in the company's manufacturing complex in Sri Racha district, the new factory will be ready about a year from now and have production capacity of 10,000 tonnes of detergent a month. It will use 20-per-cent less energy than the existing factory.

"The local detergent market has grown continuously, and this year will be the largest expansion in the past five years," said Boonchai.

He said Sahapathanapibul had about 20 per cent of the local detergent market, thanks to its flagship products under the Pao label.

Boonchai said his company recently transferred responsibility for transportation to its dealers. Dealers who have their own trucks pick up the merchandise themselves at the factory, with Sahapathanapibul paying the dealers a transportation fee.

He said the company was negotiating with more than 10 individual transport services to pool their vehicles, to be able to handle more products at one time. The company expected to save at least 30 per cent on transportation costs that way, making it more competitive amid high oil prices.

Boonchai also said his company would increase the number of its convenience-store outlets under the 108 Shop brand from 700 now to about 1,000 this year. Each store costs Bt500,000 to Bt1 million to open.