The Frozen Food Sector has attracted a growing number of investments, with the number of new business registrations rising by 84% in the first 9 months of 2022, driven by rising domestic and export demand.
According to Deputy Commerce Minister Sinit Lertkrai, the new registrations between January and October 2022 stood at 92, up from 42 in the same period last year, with registered capital rising by 284% to Bt 299 million (US$9.06 million).
Indeed, the frozen food segment has been thriving over the past few years during the pandemic, while many sectors suffered. RTE frozen food has high growth potential in both domestic and international market, thanks to its long shelf life and the advantage of expansion via convenience stores. Key products include frozen fruit, fresh vegetables, fresh shrimp, fresh squid, chilled and frozen fresh fish, steamed and boiled crab, frozen and fresh chicken, and frozen duck.
The lucrative Frozen Food Sector in Thailand was estimated to be worth Bt 304 billion (US$9.2 billion) in 2021. In the first 9 months of 2022, exports of Thai frozen food amounted to Bt 87.9 billion (US$2.66 billion), already outstripping the export value for the whole of 2020, which stood at Bt 85.2 billion (US$2.58 billion).
As of 31 October 2022, there were 833 frozen food businesses operating in Thailand, representing 0.1% of all businesses currently operating (849,958) with capital value of Bt 55.8 billion (US$1.69 billion), representing 0.28% of all businesses. According to Sinit, some 292 businesses are located in the Central region (35.1%), followed by 179 in Bangkok (21.5%) and 119 in the South (14.3%).
