Asian currencies may return to 1997 levels
I've just got 70.75 to the pound. Afraid I can't advise about transferring over here. I'm definitely no expert. However, that's a bloody good rate, so I'd be thinking about it, if it was me.nevets wrote:Today 69.72 bht to the pound and no answer from the board to my question may be i type in invisable ink.
I'm sure you're aware, but whatever you do, transfer to Thailand in Sterling. Don't do the exchange to Baht in the UK or you'll be crucified!!
However, you might want to base your decision on a few more comments, if they're forthcoming, rather than just mine
I’m heading back to the UK next week for a couple of days and I’m thinking of making a largish transfer. If you look at the long term trend, this looks about as high as it will go before heading back down in the New Year.
However I’m only an amateur in these matters and there is always a degree of chance involved. The way I look at it is that I can always transfer again if it carries on going up, but if it goes down I’ll be kicking myself!
However I’m only an amateur in these matters and there is always a degree of chance involved. The way I look at it is that I can always transfer again if it carries on going up, but if it goes down I’ll be kicking myself!
Not being an expert it would be difficult to advise but as the dollar seems to be sinking ever further against almost every other currency, my gut feeling is to change my dollars and hold on to Euros or Sterling.elem wrote:So, taking the above into account -if you would bring cash over for a stay of a few months, would Euros or dollars be preferable....?
"Sometimes I sits and thinks, and then again I just sits" Punch 24th Oct 1906
Slightly off track of the OP but I am sure of interest, another article to digest:
Fewer beer and pizza nights as prices soar
Cost inflation is a growing headache for companies around the world as a mismatch between the supply of and demand for food, metals, oil and other commodities continues to widen.
This week Credit Suisse predicted that agricultural crop prices would continue to soar. It said global food production needed to rise at 3.3pc a year to keep pace with the dietary needs of a growing population and expanding biofuels industry, but due to expansion and slowing productivity improvements it is likely to rise little more than 2pc.
"Agricultural markets are straining to keep up with demand, and prices have been spiralling upwards. Is this a temporary issue? We think not," Credit Suisse analyst Andrew Garthwaite concluded.
Japanese brewer Kirin is to increase the price of its beer, the first price hike it has dared impose in the 17 years of Japan's deflationary slump. Kirin, and rivals Sapporo and Asahi, have been faced by a heady cocktail of rising prices. The cost of malt has more than doubled while the aluminium used to make its cans has risen about 30pc this year.
Earlier this summer Procter & Gamble, the US consumer products company, warned that rising commodity prices were starting to hit its margins.
"We expect raw material and energy costs to increase again in 2008," said Clayton Daley, chief financial officer. Commodity costs will hit gross margins twice as hard as Procter expected.
Last week Unilever added its voice to the companies complaining about rising costs. Patrick Cescau, chief executive, said: "Commodity pressures have increased sharply." This week it was joined by AB Foods, producer of Twinings Tea and Ovaltine, which warned that rising costs were hitting profits.
Domino's Pizza also warned that the rising cost of cheese and wheat would lead to higher prices and tighter margins. Its shares tumbled 6pc on the news.
While summer floods were a factor, the bigger picture is soaring demand for dairy products in Asia, where newly affluent Chinese and Indians are developing a taste for a western diet. Increased Asian demand and widespread drought in Australia and elsewhere have caused agricultural commodity prices to soar. The price of wheat more than doubled between April and October this year, while soybeans have risen by 50pc since the beginning of 2007.
A recent study showed the average family is spending £750 a year more on grocery shopping than 12 months ago. Tesco has increased some prices by up to 16pc in the past year.
Less powerful companies do not have the luxury of simply passing on higher costs. France's Danone recently described higher prices as "brutal". In the US, Hershey, the chocolate and sweet maker, said third-quarter profits had plunged.
Rising food prices, or "agflation" as it has become known, is only a part of the story, however. The cost of pretty much all the building blocks of an industrialised world have spiralled in recent years. From metals to oil, from labour to the cost of shifting goods from A to B, the price of everything is significantly higher.
Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and Brazil's CVRD, which effectively control the world's iron ore market, are currently thrashing out a price agreement in China's north-eastern city of Dalian. This year's meeting is the most bruising encounter yet. Profits at Baosteel, China's biggest producer, halved in the third quarter and the Chinese are in no mood to accept a mooted 25pc-50pc rise in the price of iron. BHP is facing stiff opposition to a proposal to include the soaring cost of sea transport in the agreed price.
The Baltic Dry Freight index, which tracks the cost of shipping goods across the world's oceans, has soared in the past year from around 3,000 to more than 11,000 as shipbuilders struggle to keep up with the rapid expansion.
But arguably the most damaging price rise in 2007 has been the surge in the cost of oil from around $50 a barrel to a high of $100 this week. There is hardly a business in the world unaffected by rising energy costs.
Reporting a 27pc plunge in third-quarter profits recently, Dow Chemical said: "Our most pressing challenge remains volatile feed stock and energy costs." Carnival, the cruise operator, has adjusted by cleaning its hulls, buying new engines and planning more efficient routes.
It's enough to make you crack open a bottle or two of Kirin - if you can afford it.
Fewer beer and pizza nights as prices soar
Cost inflation is a growing headache for companies around the world as a mismatch between the supply of and demand for food, metals, oil and other commodities continues to widen.
This week Credit Suisse predicted that agricultural crop prices would continue to soar. It said global food production needed to rise at 3.3pc a year to keep pace with the dietary needs of a growing population and expanding biofuels industry, but due to expansion and slowing productivity improvements it is likely to rise little more than 2pc.
"Agricultural markets are straining to keep up with demand, and prices have been spiralling upwards. Is this a temporary issue? We think not," Credit Suisse analyst Andrew Garthwaite concluded.
Japanese brewer Kirin is to increase the price of its beer, the first price hike it has dared impose in the 17 years of Japan's deflationary slump. Kirin, and rivals Sapporo and Asahi, have been faced by a heady cocktail of rising prices. The cost of malt has more than doubled while the aluminium used to make its cans has risen about 30pc this year.
Earlier this summer Procter & Gamble, the US consumer products company, warned that rising commodity prices were starting to hit its margins.
"We expect raw material and energy costs to increase again in 2008," said Clayton Daley, chief financial officer. Commodity costs will hit gross margins twice as hard as Procter expected.
Last week Unilever added its voice to the companies complaining about rising costs. Patrick Cescau, chief executive, said: "Commodity pressures have increased sharply." This week it was joined by AB Foods, producer of Twinings Tea and Ovaltine, which warned that rising costs were hitting profits.
Domino's Pizza also warned that the rising cost of cheese and wheat would lead to higher prices and tighter margins. Its shares tumbled 6pc on the news.
While summer floods were a factor, the bigger picture is soaring demand for dairy products in Asia, where newly affluent Chinese and Indians are developing a taste for a western diet. Increased Asian demand and widespread drought in Australia and elsewhere have caused agricultural commodity prices to soar. The price of wheat more than doubled between April and October this year, while soybeans have risen by 50pc since the beginning of 2007.
A recent study showed the average family is spending £750 a year more on grocery shopping than 12 months ago. Tesco has increased some prices by up to 16pc in the past year.
Less powerful companies do not have the luxury of simply passing on higher costs. France's Danone recently described higher prices as "brutal". In the US, Hershey, the chocolate and sweet maker, said third-quarter profits had plunged.
Rising food prices, or "agflation" as it has become known, is only a part of the story, however. The cost of pretty much all the building blocks of an industrialised world have spiralled in recent years. From metals to oil, from labour to the cost of shifting goods from A to B, the price of everything is significantly higher.
Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and Brazil's CVRD, which effectively control the world's iron ore market, are currently thrashing out a price agreement in China's north-eastern city of Dalian. This year's meeting is the most bruising encounter yet. Profits at Baosteel, China's biggest producer, halved in the third quarter and the Chinese are in no mood to accept a mooted 25pc-50pc rise in the price of iron. BHP is facing stiff opposition to a proposal to include the soaring cost of sea transport in the agreed price.
The Baltic Dry Freight index, which tracks the cost of shipping goods across the world's oceans, has soared in the past year from around 3,000 to more than 11,000 as shipbuilders struggle to keep up with the rapid expansion.
But arguably the most damaging price rise in 2007 has been the surge in the cost of oil from around $50 a barrel to a high of $100 this week. There is hardly a business in the world unaffected by rising energy costs.
Reporting a 27pc plunge in third-quarter profits recently, Dow Chemical said: "Our most pressing challenge remains volatile feed stock and energy costs." Carnival, the cruise operator, has adjusted by cleaning its hulls, buying new engines and planning more efficient routes.
It's enough to make you crack open a bottle or two of Kirin - if you can afford it.
"Sometimes I sits and thinks, and then again I just sits" Punch 24th Oct 1906
Condoking
Very interesting article although somewhat depressing, now if I was only smart enough to know how to profit from the information. Eat a lot now before the price goes up? nooo I'm already to fat. Plant a veggie garden. Hard to do in a condo. Perhaps just be glad I'm living in Thailand and not the US.
Good info.
Very interesting article although somewhat depressing, now if I was only smart enough to know how to profit from the information. Eat a lot now before the price goes up? nooo I'm already to fat. Plant a veggie garden. Hard to do in a condo. Perhaps just be glad I'm living in Thailand and not the US.
Good info.
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Wanderlust
- Legend
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- Joined: Wed Aug 04, 2004 12:27 pm
- Location: Hua Hin
Actually anyone who has dollars now should probably hold onto them! I doubt that the dollar can fall much further and I would expect it to stabilise pretty near the level it is at now. Changing any dollars you already have is just throwing money away really, but if you are choosing what to buy then Euros or pounds would be a better bet. or just use your ATM card from your home country bank when you are in Thailand...Condoking wrote:Not being an expert it would be difficult to advise but as the dollar seems to be sinking ever further against almost every other currency, my gut feeling is to change my dollars and hold on to Euros or Sterling.elem wrote:So, taking the above into account -if you would bring cash over for a stay of a few months, would Euros or dollars be preferable....?
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migrant
- Addict
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- Location: California is now in the past hello Thailand!!
It's definately an interesting time here in the States. Subprime lending problems, weak overseas dollar, Highest price oil, new administration, etc.....
I see lots of businesses as a bean counter, mainly small, but I have a lot in the 10 - 150 million range.
Funny thing is most all are making more than prior years, by a good amount! Also lots of new businesses that are doing well.
I see lots of businesses as a bean counter, mainly small, but I have a lot in the 10 - 150 million range.
Funny thing is most all are making more than prior years, by a good amount! Also lots of new businesses that are doing well.
I remember back in the early 90s a lad in my class said half-jokingly of one of nostradamus' predictions 'One day the yellow will rule the world.'
Looks to be coming true now doesn't it?
Yes the Chinese have always been the sleeping dragons. Only now we are starting to see them rouse.
The sterling may or may not lose ground. It depends on a number of things. One of these (short term) is if a new government gets into power next year. Long term is the oil and gas situation and if the Falklands zone can be exploited enough (dependent on how high the price of oil is)
Looks to be coming true now doesn't it?
Yes the Chinese have always been the sleeping dragons. Only now we are starting to see them rouse.
The sterling may or may not lose ground. It depends on a number of things. One of these (short term) is if a new government gets into power next year. Long term is the oil and gas situation and if the Falklands zone can be exploited enough (dependent on how high the price of oil is)