Dhanin Chearavanont, a Thai billionaire and Senior Chairman of Charoen Pokphand Group Co Ltd (CP Group), announced today (March 5) that the company will invest more than Bt100 million in the construction of a face mask factory to alleviate market supply shortage, amid surging demand in the wake of the new coronavirus (Covid -19) outbreak.

The products will be given to hospital workers and members of the public without access to the preventive item.

CP decided to join in the relief efforts as it has always adhered to the principles of benefiting the nation and its people.

To better protect users of its face masks from contracting Covid -19, CP Group will source machinery and quality raw materials through its global network to ensure hygiene standards. The factory is scheduled to be completed within 5 weeks with a production capacity of approximately 3 million pieces per month.

“CP Group considers it our duty to assist our Thai brothers and sisters by producing these free masks. As we have investments in numerous countries, we have the potential to procure raw materials that may be difficult to source locally . By building this face mask factory to ease people’s concerns, we are committed to giving our best to the nation. Charoen Pokphand Group was born and raised in Thailand. At nearly 100 years old, we understand the difficulty of these troubling times and we view that other private sector companies feel the same too. Moreover, when everything returns to normal, this face mask facility will continue to operate with all revenues after expenses, going towards the ‘King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital’s Cardiac Center’, Dhanin added.