The Danish company Skov Asia Ltd. expands in Thailand and elsewhere in the region as farmers need new technology to boost profits on the rapidly growing consumption of meat all over Asia.
Poultry products have long been among the top products on Thailand’s export list. The statistics of the Thai Broiler Processing Exporters Association shows that the country’s chicken exports last year grew 6.31 per cent. A total of 462,525 tons of chicken products were exported to the value of Bt62.15 billion.
This year, the association expects the exports to increase by 3.78 per cent. That would mean a total of 480,000 tons of Thai chicken products exported to the value of Bt64.11 billion Baht.
One Danish company keeping a close eye on this development is SKOV.
Eight years in Thailand
Headquartered in Denmark, SKOV has over 40 years’ experience in the meat production industry. It employs over 270 employees worldwide. SKOV Asia Ltd. was established in Bangkok by Mr. Thomas O. Hansen, Managing Director, in 2004.
The company supplies Danish climate control technology for farms – which, at its most basic, means installing giant air conditioning units – and also installs production monitoring systems in the farm houses so the farmers can see whether or not their farms are operating at their best.
SKOV’s clients in Thailand include major farming companies such as Charoen Pokphand Foods, Laem Thong and Better Food.
SKOV provides a full-line service in sales, project design, project management, installation and service to customers and partners in the region. The company also develops and provides market systems and components for ventilation systems, livestock house air cleaning and production control to many big animal farms in Asia.
Starting out with only four staff working in a small office on Sukhumvit Soi 39, SKOV recently moved its operations to a 260 square metre office on Sukhumvit 71 and now employs 16 full time staff.
Plans for expansion in Asia
“We do a lot of business in Thailand and other countries in the region. This office is our hub in Asia. We are also expanding to China and India and might even have offices there later on,” says Mr. Jørgen Holst Therkildsen, Regional Sales Manager.
The company’s expansion plans come on the back of an increased demand for poultry products throughout Asia – a demand which SKOV is looking to capitalize on, and a demand which Jørgen Therkildsen hopes will see the company become the world’s biggest supplier of technologies in climate control for animal and production monitoring.
“Skov thinks globally, acts locally,” reads the promotional blurb in the company’s brochure, and it acts on this promise in Asia by offering local services for each of the 4,000 farm houses the company works with in the region.
However, the fast growing market leaves the company with a big challenge in human resources management.
“The market is growing so fast that we don’t have enough people to do the business properly, so now we’re looking for new staff to fill the gap.” says Mr. Therkildsen.
