Thailand-Based Ballpoint Pen Producer Tries to Survive as Imports Flood Market.

Byline: Somporn Thapanachai

Aug. 6--When Laszlo Biro perfected the first commercially successful ballpoint pen he hoped to make them fashionable worldwide as cheap writing instruments.

Back then, in 1935, the Hungarian inventor saw the huge potential for the pens that have now become essentials for students and employees as well as fashion items in a way he probably never expected.

The slim and colourful Monami brand from South Korea was a favourite of students in the 1980s but later lost ground to cheaper Chinese products.

On the local front, Chai Anan Inter Co, a small-scale producer that once had a joint venture with Monami, is struggling to survive the Chinese onslaught and is hampered by a lack of capital to improve production and marketing.

Managing director Srisaowaluk Pornsongkraoh said her small company could not compete on design because the cost of producing a mould for a simple pen is almost one million baht -- a daunting sum to make a product that can be sold at only two or three baht per unit.

As Thailand is not highly specialised in mould production, the company has to wait about three months to obtain a new mould. In that time, a Chinese producer can have a new design ready for the market.