Farm truck maker Siam Kubota Corporation (SKC) has revised down its revenue target to 63 billion baht this year, a slight drop from 2021, despite better business prospects in Thailand's agricultural sector.
Last year the company earned 69 billion baht, an increase of 30% from 2020, against the backdrop of the pandemic, Takanobu Azuma, president of SKC, said yesterday.
"We cut the revenue target this year because the spread of Covid-19 and some uncertainties that may arise from the weather and agricultural prices can affect the domestic economy and people's purchasing power," he said.
However, SKC believes that the Thai agricultural machinery market will grow as more people return to work for their families' farm businesses. This will lead to growing demand for farming machinery, tractors and harvesters.
The government supports large-scale farming and suitable prices of agricultural commodities.
Authorities also encourage farmers to use technology to boost production efficiency and exports.
At present, SKC sells 60% of its products domestically and exports the remaining 40% to overseas markets, notably within Asean.
Waraporn Osathapan, senior executive vice-president at SKC, said the pandemic had affected many businesses, but the agricultural sector had seen healthy farming machinery sales.
"The farming machinery market in 2022 will continue to grow in response to a global trend in food safety," Ms Waraporn said. "This leads to a consistent increase in demand for quality agricultural commodities and food."
SKC has focused on eco-friendly water and fertiliser management, digital platforms for precision farming, and product development to reduce pollution, with the goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 in line with Japan-based Kubota Corporation.
Carbon neutrality, which is aimed at striking a balance between carbon dioxide emissions and absorption, is part of the global campaign to cope with global warming, which is blamed for causing climate change.
SKC has also joined hands with Siam Cement Group, Thailand's largest cement maker and industrial conglomerate, and Kubota Corporation to establish a new firm -- KasetInno -- which will offer integrated farming solutions by bringing together agricultural knowledge, farming machinery and innovations.
The new firm aims to make farming "possible for everyone".