Bangkok, 2nd September 2018 – The Tobacco Authority of Thailand (TAOT) has denied planning to promote the consumption of demerit goods, saying its plan to build a new factory in Ayutthaya province, is in fact to relocate its facilities from Bangkok.
TAOT Managing Director Daonoi Suttiniphapunt, explained that the newly-opened facility, called Tobacco Factory No.6 in Rojana Industrial Park in Ayutthaya’s U-Thai district, is intended to replace the three factories in Khlong Toey district of Bangkok.
The old factory compound in Bangkok, which covers an area of nearly 200 acres, will be offered to HM the Queen. A forest park will be built there as a recreational spot for city people. All machinery and staff are expected to have been moved to Ayutthaya by 2020.
Ms. Daonoi also disclosed that the consumption of cigarettes in global markets lowers by four percent on average each year. In Thailand, the demand for cigarettes has dropped by more than 10 per cent over the past three years, with the number of cigarettes smoked legally shrinking to fewer than 30 billion.
She added that the four-billion-baht construction budget of the new tobacco factory had been taken from the profits of TAOT and had been approved by the former cabinet.
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