SE Asia fire market to 'grow successfully': Lightak

Lightak, a Taiwan fire safety equipment manufacturer, is optimistic about the Southeast Asia market despite certain challenges, including competition from China.

“Prices have been driven down as a result of China’s competition, and we don’t want to confront them directly,” said Robin Chen, Marketing Manager at Lightak.

Meanwhile, Southeast Asia’s fire market is seeing more stringent regulations requiring that products be certified by international bodies like UL. This also poses a challenge for Lightak, whose sales volumes to the region aren’t heavy enough to make certification worthwhile.

“Certification fees are quite expensive and take a long time to recover,” Chen said.

Despite these issues, Chen is still hopeful of Southeast Asia’s fire market, which he said has become more mature and evolved.

“I remember more than ten years ago, Vietnam’s market was less advanced than it is today,” he said.

Better yet, Southeast Asia’s economy is growing fast, and this will also drive the region’s fire safety market, he said.

According to estimates by Frost & Sullivan, Southeast Asia’s fire safety market will grow at a CAGR of 8.1 percent between now and 2017, reaching a size of $548.3 million by that year. “Yes, no doubt the Asian fire and safety market is set to grow successfully,” Chen said.

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