Betagro Group, one of Thailand's leading pork producers, is on track with its investment and sales expansion in the pork business despite the recent AH1N1 case found in Saraburi.

Betagro's 324-rai farm in Lop Buri is fully SPF-certified, and the Saraburi incident is therefore likely to benefit the group which has focused mainly on premium-grade pork and processed meat manufactured under several joint ventures with Japanese firms over the past two decades.

Thailand has much experience in handling bird flu for the past five years and quarantine systems for the livestock industry have been applied since, said Nopporn Vayuchote, executive vice president of Betagro Group.

Betagro had applied safeguards at its pig farms since early this year when AH1N1 was first reported in Mexico this year. Consumers were also informed that properly heat-treated products were safe, therefore the industry expects very short-term concern over any virus development, he said.

The company will go ahead with plans for an official opening early next year of its new venture with Japanese partners to process pork into ham and sausage products, mostly for export to Japan.

Betagro Group has entered into a joint venture with Sumitomo Corp of Japan, enabling Betagro to initiate Thailand's only SPF swine farming technology and pork processing plant. Other joint ventures have also been established with the Ajinomoto Group to produce frozen cooked products using SPF swine.

In March this year, the company formed Itoham Betagro Foods Co with initial capital of THB172 million (US$5.2 million) with Itoham Food Inc, Ajinomoto Thailand, and the Itoham subsidiary Hoei & Co.

The new operation is expected to generate more than THB500 million (US$15 million) in annual sales revenue by 2012, and contribute strongly to Betagro's swine business which is expected to earn THB5 billion (US$150.4 million) this year.