Thai Union restructures pet business in US

Thai Union’s subsidiary, i-Tail Corporation Public Company Limited, has established i-Tail Americas, Inc. to take care of its pet food business in the United States, Thai Union said in a statement on 4 January.

i-Tail Corporation will take full ownership of i-Tail Americas, Inc., which will have a registered capital of USD 5 million (EUR 4.4 million). The new company will buy shares of U.S. Pet Nutrition, a distributor of pet food in the U.S. owned by Thai Union North America Inc.

Following the launch of i-Tail Corporation in 2021, the latest restructuring move in the U.S. market is expected to further strengthen Thai Union’s pet food business and support its growth in the sector, the company said.

“Thai Union’s PetCare business has seen strong annual growth over the past few years, especially under the pandemic when people adopted more pets and spent more money taking care of, and feeding, them. The establishment of i-Tail Americas will give us greater flexibility in managing our business as both domestic and global markets are growing strongly,” i-Tail Corporation’s CEO Roy Chan said. “At i-Tail, we are committed to healthy living for all pets, and our Thai Union’s Global Innovation Center has been leading the way in Global PetCare Innovation and product development.”

Thai Union said in November last year that its PetCare and value-added sales in the third quarter surged 11.4 percent from the same period in 2020, thanks mainly to the strong demand for pet food in the market and its newly-launched products.

However, the company’s gross margin of the PetCare and value-added business over July-September dropped to 23.6 percent from 26.2 percent a year earlier due to the temporary closure of a factory in Thailand because of the coronavirus infections and rising freight costs of pet food products.

Photo coutesy of i-Tail Corporation/Thai Union