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Published on August 27, 2007

Thai Printing Association president Kriengkrai Thiennukul said second-quarter export revenue had surged to US$159 million (Bt5.4 billion) from $23 million three months earlier.

This country's printers have a good reputation for quality, he added. The industry is on track to hit an export-revenue target of Bt30 billion in 2010.

Publishers in Europe, the US and Japan are searching for quality printers in Asia. However, Thailand needs to be competitive with Hong Kong and Singapore, and China is emerging as a rival. Thailand needs to concentrate on niche markets rather cheap prices. Industry Ministry permanent secretary Damri Sukhothanang insisted baht fluctuation was not a problem for printing and the government would help with technology.

Thai Print Awards president Padej Rattananalin said competitions helped the industry's image abroad and cemented its reputation in point-of-purchase materials and posters, paper and plastic packages and labels. Last year the country took home 17 medals from the Asian Print Awards in Shanghai.

The Thai Print Awards is supported by the Office of Small and Medium Enterprise Promotion. The competition started last year with 600 entries.

This year it featured 800 entries in 25 categories.

Padej said growth in printed media and magazines as well as point-of-purchase materials and posters had slowed but packaging had witnessed expansion, thanks to increasing exports.

Kyodo Nation Printing Service, a joint venture between Nation Multimedia Group subsidiary WPS and Japan's Kyodo Printing, took home a first place in the web-offset category.

Nitida Asawanipont

 The Nation