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December domestic auto sales,
production drop year-on-year
Thailand’s total domestic automobile sales in December
fell by 41.40 percent to 54,575 units year-on-year, but increased by 109.35
percent compared to the previous month, according to the Federation of Thai
Industries (FTI).
Spokesman Surapong Paisitpattanapong of the FTI
Automotive Industry Club said Wednesday that the rise in auto production was
because almost all automobile plants have resumed operations and have begun
delivering vehicles to customers after Thailand’s devastating floods, though
the plants are not yet fully operational.
Overall auto sales last year, from January through
December, were recorded at 794,081 units, down 0.80 percent compared to
2010.
Meanwhile, December auto production dropped 27.64 percent
to 99,426 units compared to the same period in 2010, but rose by 319.61 from
November 2011.
Surapong reported that auto production in 2011 totaled
1,457,795 units, shrinking by 11.40 percent, year-on-year.
The country’s flood crisis in late 2011 halted auto
production as the mega-floods hit the central provinces, where many
industrial estates are located, which immediately led to a shortage of parts
to supply the country’s automobile assembly plants.
The widespread inundation slashed auto production in
October and November, falling in November to a record low of 23,695 units
for the preceding 151 months
Not since mid-1999 - more than 12 years ago - had
Thailand’s automotive production been so low.
In a related development, Japanese leading automaker
Toyota Motors reported that flooding in Thailand and the devastating March
11 tsunami in Japan affected its auto production in Thailand, dragging its
2011 overall sales to 794,081 units, a drop of 0.8 percent year-on-year.
Kyoichi Tanada, president of Toyota Motor Thailand Co.,
Ltd., said the company was confident that the Thai auto market could
continue to expand to meet the demand of the markets which will lead to
competition among automakers as well as government policy supporting the
automotive industry.
Tanada projected Thai auto sales to grow to 1.1 million
units, marking the first time in Thailand’s auto sales history that the
volume will exceed one million units.
Meanwhile, Toyota Motor Thailand projected its total auto
sales in 2012 to reach 450,000 units, including 214,000 passenger cars and
236,000 commercial vehicles, he added.
Tanada asserted that Toyota Motor Thailand will continue
expanding its investment here and will build a new auto manufacturing plant
at Gateway City Industrial Estate in Chachoengsao province, named Gateway
Plant 2, and will resume operations at its TAW factory, which manufactured
the Toyota Fortuner.
The combined production capacity of the two factories
will reach 88,000 units, with an investment value of Bt8.2 billion.
Meanwhile, the STM factory, which produces engines for
Toyota vehicles, will also expand its production capacity.
All expansion is to meet rising market demand, the Toyota
Thailand president added. (MCOT)
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Cabinet approves Bt380bln investment
budget for infrastructure projects in North
Thai Cabinet earlier this month approved in principle a
Bt380 billion budget to invest in 128 infrastructure projects in the
northern region.
Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister Kittirat Na
Ranong said after the year’s first mobile cabinet meeting that the cabinet
has given a green light for a budget towards infrastructure development
including a Bangkok-Chiang Mai high-speed electric train project, a mass
transit system project and a flood prevention system project in the region.
Kittirat added that agencies relevant to each project
were assigned to propose an investment budget to the screening committee and
the Strategic Committee for Reconstruction and Future Development in order
to scrutinize the appropriate budget for each project, explaining that the
country needed to invest around Bt2 trillion for long-term infrastructure
projects for the whole country.
Meanwhile, Government Spokesperson Thitima Chaisaeng said
that the cabinet approved the speeding up of building sluice gates and
repairing of destroyed river banks as a short-term investment for flood
prevention in the northern region of Thailand.
Regarding the long-term projects in the North valued at
Bt380 billion, Ms Thitima explained that the projects included a water
resource investment project worth Bt15 billion, the trans-provincial road
development project valued at Bt25 billion, a project on the mass transit
and rail development worth Bt311 billion, as well as the tourism development
project worth Bt10.5 billion.
However, the investment budget for each project will be
considered again, the government spokesperson added. (MCOT)
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AoT exempts charges to help flood-affected airlines
The Airports of Thailand (AoT) on Friday announced that
it would exempt landing and parking charges for aircraft to help airlines
affected by the flood crisis at Don Mueang airport last year.
AoT closed Don Mueang airport temporarily on Oct 25, as
flood waters flowed onto the runways. After being flooded for almost two
months, AoT is repairing airport infrastructure and the facility is
scheduled to reopen on April 1.
The agency, which manages, operates and develops airports
in Thailand, said the charges would be retroactive from Oct 25 until March
2012 before Don Mueang resumes normal operations.
The exemption would cost AoT some Bt110 million in
revenue, it said.
The move is part of the rehabilitation measures to help
the airlines which were severely hit by one of the worst flood crises in
Thailand’s history, said AoT.
As for the office and real property rental, service and
other charges including retail shops inside and outside the terminals as
well as the charges for some airlines that swiftly relocated to temporary
facilities at Suvarnabhumi airport, AoT would charge them at the same rate
as Don Mueang airport.
AoT estimated that Bt440 million would be spent for
repair and maintenance works at Don Mueang, with Bt305 million being used to
improve the eastern runway, driveway and parking area scheduled for
completion in February. Maintenance work for the western runway, driveway
and parking area would cost Bt135 million for commercial service expected to
be ready in March.
Currently, AOT has six international airports under its
responsibility - Don Mueang, Phuket, Chiang Mai, Hat Yai, Chiang Rai and
Suvarnabhumi - all of which accommodate both domestic and international
flights. (MCOT)
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TAT 2012 tourism push targets India, Turkey, Indonesia
Phasakorn Channgam
Tourism Authority of Thailand officials will target
India, Turkey and Indonesia to bolster Pattaya tourism in 2012.
TAT Pattaya Director Athapol Vannakit said the
association as received feedback and financial support from the Pattaya and
Chonburi governments, the Thai Hotels Association Eastern Chapter and
Pattaya Business & Tourism Association to raise Pattaya’s profile in India
and the Middle East and build on TAT’s 2011 efforts to lure Indonesian
visitors to the city.
TAT Pattaya Director Athapol
Vannakit.
The effort kicked off Jan. 16 with a “Pattaya & Chonburi
Activities Night” at the ASEAN Tourism Forum in Cambodia.
In February, TAT will hit India and Turkey before
returning to a traditional travel market in Japan. For yet another year,
TAT’s only plans to exhibit in a Western country will be at the
International Travel Bourse in Germany.
The rest of TAT’s planned promotion of Pattaya will focus
on domestic Thai tourism including the “Discover Thailand” show at the Queen
Sirikit Convention Center, and participating in projects such as the “Help
Brothers & Sisters” blanket distribution project in Tak, and the “Everyone
Love the Gulf of Thailand” environmental program.
While not trade shows, such activities, Athapol said,
remind potential tourists of the diverse potential of tourism and shows the
association’s interest in contributing to society and the environment.
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Thai exports grow 17.2 percent in 2011
Thai exports grew 17.2 percent in 2011 compared to the
previous year, or some US$228 billion, while the value of exports in
December reached over US$17 billion, or a 2-percent decrease year-on-year,
Permanent Secretary for Commerce Yanyong Phuangrach announced on Friday.
The over 17-percent growth was higher than the previously
targeted 15 percent by the ministry, while the drop in value last month was
due to the recent flood crisis. The drop was lower than that in November,
however, which means that the Thai industrial sector has recovered quickly,
Yanyong said.
Merchandise with a lower percentage on exports in
December included main industrial goods at a reduced rate of 10.2 percent,
electronics of 26.9, motor vehicles, equipment and auto parts of 20, and
electric appliances of 12.9 percent respectively.
The continuous decline of Thai exports amounted to 7.7
percent in the major markets of the United States, Europe and Japan.
Meanwhile, Thai imports in 2011 grew 24.9 percent
year-on-year, valued at US$228 billion.
Thai imports last month stood at US$19.1 billion, a
19-percent increase year-on-year for all types of merchandise such as fuel
at 22 percent, capital goods at 14.5, consumer goods at 21.7, and raw
material and semi-finished goods at 20.6 percent respectively. In December
alone, Thailand recorded a trade deficit at US$2.1 billion.
However, the country in 2011 recorded a trade surplus at
US$334 million.
The Department of International Trade Promotion targeted
the growth of Thai exports this year at 15 percent, or around US$263 billion
in value.
The rise of Thai exports in 2012 will depend on the
fluctuation of the world economy and of fuel prices. The balance of trade in
Q1 will still be negative but not so seriously, as the industrial sector has
shown signs of quick recovery, the permanent secretary for commerce said.
Positive factors will come from the prices of
agricultural goods in the world market, which shows a positive tendency, the
government’s measures to boost the economy and rehabilitation measures for
sectors affected by the recent flood. (MCOT)
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