Homegrown nuts company aims to grow Asean markets

LIKE its icon, the camel - which symbolises strength, endurance and resilience - Seng Hua Hng Foodstuff Pte Ltd, has defied all odds since modest beginnings in 1974 to emerge a first-time winner of the prestigious Enterprise 50 (E50) Award last year.

The company behind the iconic Camel brand of nuts founded by Poh Ah Seng and his wife, Poh-Ong Siew Hua, to offer peanuts locally will expand on its existing distribution to the huge China market and increase its presence there when its Xiamen factory starts production in mid-2020.

Seng Hua Hng has become Singapore's largest and only homegrown nuts manufacturer with exports to 29 countries, more than 160 employees and 200 stock-keeping units - a far cry from having just five employees and t…