BANGKOK, 6 Dec 2013 Mr. Nattapon Nattasomboon, Director General of the Department of Industrial Works (DIW) has revealed a total of 8,887 new factories were established in the 14 provinces of the South during January to November this year.
According to Mr. Nattapon, the figure shows an increase of 6.24% from that of last year, while the employment rate jumped by 3.64% with over 217,000 workers being hired, bringing in 260 billion baht in investment, an increase of 7.37%.
He said Songkhla attracted the highest number of new factories with nearly 1,800 more sites requiring an investment of 89 billion baht, a jump of 8.02%. Nakhon Si Thammarat and Surat Thani are the second and third most popular provinces, registering more than 1,400 and 1,200 new factories respectively.
The Director General said the reason why those provinces have attracted such a large number of investors is that they are big cities with an easy access to marine & land transportation for exports. Most of the new industrial factories in the southern region are dealing with processed agricultural products and seafood.
