Entrepreneurs have flocked to invest in the frozen food segment, with new business registrations rising by 84% in the first nine months, driven by rising domestic and export demand.
According to Deputy Commerce Minister Sinit Lertkrai, new frozen food business registrations between January and October tallied 92, up from 42 in the same period last year, with registered capital rising by 284% to 299 million baht.
"The frozen food segment has been thriving over the past few years during the pandemic, which affected most businesses," said Mr Sinit.
The annual market value of the Thai frozen food sector is estimated at 300 billion baht the last three years.
Thai frozen food was valued at 304 billion baht in 2021, up from 284 billion in 2020 and down compared with 307 billion in 2019.
The sector's performance also continued improving over the last three years, with net profit surging to 10.6 billion baht in 2021, up from 7 billion in 2020 and 7.36 billion in 2019.
The important Thai frozen products are frozen fruit, fresh vegetables, fresh shrimp, fresh squid, chilled and frozen fresh fish, steamed and boiled crab, frozen and fresh chicken, and frozen duck.
In the first nine months of 2022, exports of Thai frozen food amounted to 87.9 billion baht, already outstripping the export value for the whole of 2020, which stood at 85.2 billion.
In 2021, Thai frozen food exports were valued 94.8 billion baht.
As of Oct 31, there were 833 frozen food businesses operating in Thailand, representing 0.1% of all businesses currently operating (849,958) with capital value of 55.8 billion baht, representing 0.28% of all businesses currently operating (20.6 trillion baht).
Some 292 businesses are located in the Central region (35.1%) with total registered capital of 20.1 billion baht (36.1%), followed by 179 businesses in Bangkok (21.5%) and 119 in the South (14.3%).
Mr Sinit said ready-to-eat frozen food, both for domestic consumption and export, has high growth potential thanks to its long shelf life and the advantage of expansion via convenience stores.
