Laufgs enters lubricant market

Anjana Samarasinghe

NEW PRODUCT: Laufgs has been given the go-ahead by the Government to import, distribute and sell their branded lubricants in Sri Lanka. The official agreement with the Government is to be signed next week.

Chairman of the LAUFGS Holdings W.K.H Wegapitiya said the company will import bulk of the lubricants from Singapore, but expects to establish a blending plant in Sri Lanka in the near future.

They expect to capture 35% of the market within three years and 5% to 7% end of this year. Meanwhile LAUFGS Holdings has expanded their auto gas conversion services to Australia and expect to commence operations this month.

This is a 20 million Australian Dollar investment and their Sri Lankan team is going to Australia on April 9. We will be starting our operations on April 25, he said.

In Australia there is a scarcity of converting petrol vehicles to gas and there is a huge potential for auto gas conversion. However Australian government is providing 3000 Australian Dollars for converting each car to gas he said.

LAUFGS will use auto gas conversion service as a entry point to Australian market.

LAUFGS also expects to venture out for local hotel industry by 2009. Company has planned to set up a small luxury hotel in Chilaw investing Rs 150 million. This hotel will be targeting up markets and marketing will be done through a European company.