The modest two-storey facade of Fassler Gourmet’s food factory in Woodlands Terrace belies the home-grown seafood and soup manufacturer’s reputation as one of the largest suppliers of smoked seafood in Singapore.

For more than 20 years, the company, set up in 1991, had been content to cater solely to the domestic market. It counts among its customers all major hotels here, along with big-name restaurants and supermarkets such as Cold Storage and NTUC FairPrice.

But last year, it made the move to sell its products outside Singapore – to countries such as Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia and Malaysia – and that has opened up a world of possibilities.

On going regional, chief executive Mellissa Chen says, “In Singapore, there’s definitely still more to do. But in terms of growing Fassler and expanding the brand, export is the way to go. That’s where the bigger growth is.”

… The Asean growth story comes at a time when companies globally are making the move towards inshoring – also known as reshoring or next-shoring, or the practice of bringing back manufacturing activity to where the demand is.

… “If someone wants to invest in Singapore, he will be told by consultants that Singapore is very expensive and that he should put his headquarter functions there, but the manufacturing operations somewhere else, like Malaysia or Vietnam,” says Mr Ong Keng Yong, former Asean secretary-general and Singapore’s Ambassador-at-Large. “So we have this kind of ‘distribution’ of the incoming investments, which is conducive for businesses across the board.”

He adds: “These days, US and European companies are thinking about moving back to home countries because of issues like rising labour costs, regulatory compliance costs and the protection of IP (intellectual property) rights. Going forward, Asean investors must play a more prominent role in the business and manufacturing sectors of Asean member states.”