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Thailand to become world’s leading rubber trade center
The Thai government plans to promote Thailand as one of
the world’s leading rubber trade and production centers. The government
believes a rubber trade venture between Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand
will help boost rubber prices in coming years, according to Prime Minister
Thaksin Shinawatra.
During a workshop recently held in Nakhon Si Thammarat,
ways to reform rubber production were discussed. Thaksin said that the
government wants to reform the country’s rubber strategy to promote
Thailand as a world rubber trade and production hub in the future.
The reformed strategy would include a new arrangement
of rubber plantation areas more suitable for local economic, social and
environmental conditions. Reform also will include the development of
related and support industries and the establishment of a tripartite
rubber trade joint venture between Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand to
stabilize rubber prices.
The Thai government wants to open up a rubber
industrial estate in the southern province of Songkhla, which will then be
expanded to Nakhon Si Thammarat Province. The workshop also discussed
setting up a prototype of a rubber town. This ‘model town’ would
feature facilities and structures that come from rubber products in order
to promote the use of natural rubber.
Thailand’s prime minister asked rubber producers not
to sell their stocks until the joint agreement was signed. Thailand signed
the tripartite rubber trade joint agreement with Indonesia and Malaysia on
August 7.
The premier said he expected rubber prices in the world
market to rise to around one U.S. dollar per kilogram after the signing of
the tripartite deal; while local rubber prices were expected to increase
to around B30 per kilogram.
The Thai leader pledged that his administration will
continue to address issues of other farm products in order to raise the
standard of living of local farmers who are the majority of the
country’s population. He stressed that better living conditions of local
farmers will eventually lead to better national economic conditions.
The Thai leader said, “After the signing of the
tripartite rubber trade venture, the government plans to conclude similar
deals with trading partners, starting with a joint venture on rice
trade.” (TNA)
New DaimlerChrysler car to be made in Thailand
Associated Press
DaimlerChrysler has agreed in principle with its
Japanese partner Mitsubishi Motors to use Thailand as the production base
for the development of a new car.
Mitsubishi Motors officials were quoted as saying that
a new model will be assembled in Thailand in order to be price
competitive. “What we will do here is build a new model that has never
been introduced anywhere in the world before,” said Vatchara Panchate,
executive vice president of Mitsubishi Motors Thailand. However, he
declined to reveal the project’s time frame or specify the production
site for the new model.
Vatchara said DaimlerChrysler and Mitsubishi Motors,
which have a global alliance, would cooperate in Thailand in the same way
Ford and Mazda have done. Ford and Mazda formed a joint venture in
Thailand to produce pickup trucks. The operation uses the same platform to
produce both Ford and Mazda pickups.
The president and CEO of DaimlerChrysler (Thailand),
Karl Heinz Heckhausen had said earlier that the alliance with Mitsubishi
Motors would result in the introduction of a new small car sometime in
2004.
Thailand is one of the biggest manufacturers of foreign
cars in Asia along with Malaysia and Indonesia.
Silicon Valley to be used as prototype to develop Thailand’s electronic industry
Industry Minister Suriya Jungrungreangkit recently
visited Silicon Valley in the United States to study industrial clusters
to be used for the development of the electronic industry in Thailand.
Suriya said, “There is full-circle development in the
electronic industry in Silicon Valley, where industrial clusters have also
been successfully developed to create economy of scale. Using this as a
prototype of development, the Thai electronic industry could be
strengthened with more value added.”
According to Suriya, Thailand has to import electronic
product parts for local assembly plants although the country is currently
a production and export base for electronic products in the region. He
said this makes the country earn less revenue from its products sales.
The government wants to boost Thailand’s electronic
industry’s potential and competitiveness through the improvement and
development of designs and quality of products to meet market demand with
reasonable product costs.
Suriya listed a host of measures and situations that
have combined to make Silicon Valley such a success. Products which meet
market demand, aggressive research and development projects, systematic
training for staff by leading universities, (like Stanford and Berkley
Universities) were part of the formula. But enough supply of raw
materials, efficient logistic and delivery support, efficient waste
management, and full-circle financial facilities are all key factors that
have made Silicon Valley become one of the world’s most successful hubs
for industrial clusters, according to the Industry Minister.
Suriya said development of industrial clusters is
necessary for the local electronic industry. However, in the initial
stage, development should be focused on the improvement of the logistic
support. The government should also implement measures to facilitate the
development of the local electronic industry, including tax incentives for
raw materials. (TNA)
New group director of sales appointed for Marriott Resort & Spa Thailand
 William
E. Heinecke, chairman of the Royal Garden Resorts - a leading
Thailand-based hospitality group, has appointed Clement Koh as group
director of sales for three Marriott Thailand properties in Bangkok,
Pattaya and Hua Hin.
Koh, 35, joins the Bangkok team from Seoul, where he
was director of marketing and sales at the Renaissance Seoul Hotel, a
Marriott International hotel. Prior to his Seoul posting, Koh led the
sales and marketing team at the Singapore Marriott Hotel, initially as
director of sales and then director of marketing.
A graduate of the Singapore Hotel Association Training
and Educational Center (SHATEC), Koh also won a scholarship to Cornell
University’s Professional Development Program.
In 2002, Koh was awarded a ‘Special Sales
Achievement’ award at the Asia Pacific Sales Leaders Conference and is a
previous winner of the International Sales Leader of the Year Award.
The Bangkok Marriott Resort and Spa, Marriott Pattaya and Marriott Hua
Hin are part of the Royal Garden Group of international hotels.
SET upbeat about IPO of TOT and ATT shares
The Stock Exchange of Thailand hopes the initial public
offering of shares by the Telephone Organization of Thailand (TOT) and the
Aviation Authority of Thailand (AAT) will help expand the investor base to
meet the 400,000 target mark by the end of this year. Sopavadee
Lertmanaschai, senior executive vice president of the SET said TOT’s
shares would be offered for sale in October and start trading on the
market the following month.
For AAT, the share offering is likely to be made in
November and the trading to begin sometime at the end of this year.
The SET expects the privatization of the two state
enterprises through the share offering will help double the number of
investors in the bourse by 200,000 to 400,000, a target they want to reach
by the end of this year.
The initial public offering (IPO) of TOT’s shares
will not be made on “first-come first-serve” basis like that PTT Plc
made late last year since it caused a lot of complaints. This method also
only increased the number of investors by 10,000. This small increase was
regarded as unsatisfactory.
The IPO shares might be offered for subscription
through branches of commercial banks. Then, successful subscribers would
be chosen at random like Thai Airways International did it previously.
Sopavadee said some of the IPO shares would also be subscribed online
through the service of Settrade.com Company.
Since TOT is a major state enterprise, its share
offering is expected to expand the new-face investor base, which is in
line with the TOT’s policy of offering its shares to customers who
currently use its 3,000,000 landline services. (TNA)
Joint study indicates government must help boost competitiveness of local industries
Local industries’ competitiveness remains low and the
government should step up coordination with the private sector to improve
it, according to a joint study by the Industrial Economics Office and the
United Nations Industry Development Organization.
Director-general Damri Sukhotanang said the database
should be used as an economic warning and as information for working out
an approach to solving problems facing the industries.
The study found competitiveness of the country’s
exports and industries remained low given the comparison of local resource
utilization costs, production efficiency, and labor cost per unit with
those of other countries. Thailand has experienced some constraints on
technology and human resources development, which are key factors to
enhancing the competitive edge.
Chaiyuth Panyasawadisuth, a lecturer at Thammasat
University’s Economics Faculty, said Thailand’s competitiveness has
declined as could be witnessed by decreased exports in many industries. (TNA)
Foreign debts continue to drop in May
According to Atchana Waiquamdee, senior director of
BOT’s Domestic Economic Policy Department, Thailand’s total foreign
debts have slightly dropped by US$57 million to $64.65 billion in May from
that of the previous month due to continued debt repayment by the private
and public sectors. The foreign debt burdens have also decreased by 2.7
billion baht from that of the same month the year before.
The debt repayment was seen easing since the debt
burdens have significantly decreased when compared with the pre-crisis
level. Atchana said foreign debts incurred by the central bank in May
totaled $27.1 billion baht. The BOT repaid $1.4 billion baht of debts to
the International Monetary Fund, but given the stronger yen in that
period, the bank’s debts dropped by only $1.2 billion.
Long-term foreign debts stood at $7.1 billion, down
from the first quarter of this year and by $1.2 billion from that of the
end of last year.
Public debts totaled $20 billion as of the end of May,
a decrease of $600 million from that of the end of last year as a result
of redemption of bonds and repayment of loans by the government in many
projects.
However, as the yen appreciated in that period, the
public debts remained at $20 billion.
Private-sector debts as of the end of May stood at
$37.5 billion, down by $1.5 billion from that of the previous month. Debts
incurred by commercial banks dropped by $471 million from that of the end
of last year. (TNA)
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