Buriram Sugar debuts on SET, plans to set up ethanol plant next year

Chief executive officer Anant Tangtongwechakit said the investment would be funded by loans and profits from operations. 

BRR plans to add 60,000-70,000 rai to its current 200,000-rai (16,000-hectare) cane plantation area next year. This will boost annual cane output to between 3.3 million and 3.5 million tonnes in the next two to three years. The company expects 2.1 million tonnes of sugar-cane output next year.

The  company’s operating results next year should reflect a surge in revenue related to electricity generation totalling 16 megawatts and the higher sugar-cane output.   

Currently, BRR is the country’s top sugar producer, at 118 kilograms of sugar for each tonne of cane. It hopes to raise this to 120kg per tonne in the future. It says its sugar has a sweetness level as high as 13.75CCS (commercial cane sugar units), the highest in the industry; it hopes to raise this to 14CCS by improving the soil and the type of sugar cane used, Anant said.         

Meanwhile, trading of BRR’s shares debuted yesterday on the Stock Exchange of Thailand at Bt9.25, up Bt2.45, or 36.02 per cent, from the initial public offering and closed at Bt8.70, up Bt1.90 or 27.94 per cent, amid trading value of Bt2.23 billion. These prices were within expectations and in line with the company’s fundamentals, Anant said.          

Komkrit Meekamsat, senior executive vice president of KT Zmico Securities, Buriram Sugar’s financial adviser and underwriter of the IPO, agreed with that assessment.