Major companies and attractions in Thailand that may not survive Covid-19

[dtaai-maai]

The UN report said that the loss of income will push many workers into the poverty threshold – a minimum income of US$1.90 or 60 baht per day ...

So if you're earning 2-3000 baht per month you're comfortably off...?

[buksida]

Crisis shutters 404 factories
Up to 16,680 factory workers lost their jobs in Thailand in the first six months of the year, with 404 factories closing down, as the pandemic continues to hamper the economy, according to the Department of Industrial Works (DIW).

The country has lost an estimated 25.4 billion baht in investment value from the closures.

Most of the businesses that shut down were small and medium-sized enterprises that could not afford the stresses on the economy caused by the coronavirus outbreak and lockdown measures, said DIW director-general Prakob Vivitjinda.

"During the same period in 2019, 666 factories closed permanently in Thailand, so the DIW is actually not very concerned about the factory closures because they are relatively normal," he said.

The DIW also reported that 1,702 factories registered their businesses in the country in the first six months of the year, a 10.2% year-on-year increase, with a total investment value of 174.8 billion baht, a 14.1% year-on-year decrease.

The department expects to learn more about the effects of the outbreak on the industrial sector in the third and fourth quarters of the year.

"What the full impact of the pandemic will be on factories so far in the first half of the year is difficult to gauge," Mr Prakob said.

The government is keen to attract investors who want to relocate their manufacturing base to Asean and Thailand, believing that the region's ability to efficiently handle the outbreak is a major selling point for businesses looking to expand.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/19 ... -factories

No foreign investor is going to relocate to Thailand when the currency is so strong and the wall of bureaucracy so high.

[caller]

The Thai 'Govt' are fiddling while Bkk burns! (pun intended)

A sobering report from the Thai Enquirer:

Manufacturers are moving to Vietnam while the use of FTAs in Thailand has dropped because of COVID-19

Manufacturers in garment, plastic and electronic industries are continuing to move out of Thailand to Vietnam to gain benefits from trade deals.

Vietnam is now part of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the European Union Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA).

For Thailand, the government’s special committee said this week that the country will likely miss 2020’s CPTPP negotiation in August because they need more time to study the deal before negotiations can begin.

The FTA between Thailand and the EU will also take at least two more years to materialize, experts told Thai Enquirer.

With cheaper labour cost and more trade deals, it is inevitable for manufacturers to find Vietnam more attractive than Thailand in terms of production base.

More than US$12.33 billion worth of foreign direct investment has flown into Vietnam in the first four months of 2020 compared to Thailand’s $4.38 billion.

Vietnam’s GDP has also expanded by 0.36 per cent in the second quarter of 2020.

Full report:

https://www.thaienquirer.com/15225/more ... -covid-19/

[PeteC]

https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/19 ... first-half

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Thailand's total car production in the first half of 2020 fell by 43.1% year-on-year to 606,132 units, mainly due to the government's lockdown measures and weak purchasing power among buyers.

The pandemic is still a worry, but car makers hope for better sales since the lockdown has been eased, according to the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI).

Surapong Paisitpatanapong, a spokesman for the FTI's automotive club, said car production for domestic sale in the past six months fell 48.9% to 259,754 units, while manufacture for export fell 37.8% to 346,378 units.

In June alone, car production decreased by 58.5% to 71,704 units.

"The FTI is concerned that a second outbreak of Covid-19 may occur, dealing a blow to people's purchasing power and causing factories to shut down again," Mr Surapong said.

Car sales in Thailand during the first half of this year declined by 37.2% year-on-year to 328,604 units. In June, the volume dropped by 32.6% to 58,013 units.

"But car sales in June increased by 43.5% from May, thanks to the government easing more lockdown measures," Mr Surapong said.

The FTI said car sales for export in the first half of the year decreased by 37.4% year-on-year to 350,550 units, valued at 187.9 billion baht, a drop of 34%.

The club expects Thailand's automotive trend in the six months ahead to recover because many businesses have been allowed to resume activities and the government is preparing to spend several billion baht to bolster the economy.

The FTI expects full-year car production to reach 1.3-1.4 million units. But whether this pans out will depend on the Covid-19 situation.

"The FTI estimates domestic car sales to reach 700,000 units and exports 700,000 units, partly due to the positive sign of bookings during the Bangkok Motor Show that boosted sales," Mr Surapong said.

The 12-day Bangkok International Motor Show will end this Sunday.

The event was also affected by the pandemic, as it was postponed from its scheduled start in late March.

[PeteC]

I have to comment....if they are buying 30,000+ - patrol cars a year, are they police patrol cars? If so, where the hell are they all as they are not patrolling! Maybe just used for commuting?

[Big Boy]

They'll be parked up under a shady tree somewhere

[handdrummer]

Before the virus, Thai debt has reached an unsustainable level and banks were being more stringent about loans for cars/houses/business startups. The virus exacerbated the problem.

[buksida]

Revenue and profits drop sharply for Bumrungrad Hospital

Bumrungrad Hospital Plc., one of the country’s leading high-end healthcare operators, reported a sharp decline in its quarterly earnings after the country was faced with a coronavirus-induced lockdown that barred foreign visitors from coming into the country, a key source of income for the hospital.

BH reported that its Q2 profits declined by 93.87 per cent to stand at a mere 44.43 million baht from the 724.99 million baht reported during the same period last year.

For the first 6-months of the year, BH reported a net profit decline of 55.18 per cent to 809.63 million baht against 1.81 billion baht for the first 6-months of 2019.

Despite the 94 per cent decline in profits BH also announced that it was going to be paying an interim dividend of 1.15 baht a share with the shares going XD (Excluding Dividend) on August 19, 2020. This payment of dividend is for the hospital’s operations during January-June 2020.

BH, which is the go-to place for most high-end Thais and foreign medical tourists, has seen its revenues dry up as the country’s international airports remained shut to commercial flights.

The impact of the airport closure and airlines canceling their flights into Thailand, took a major toll on the revenues of the hospital, which in the past has said that about 60-70 per cent of its revenues are derived from the international medical tourists.

https://www.thaienquirer.com/16614/reve ... providers/

[Spitfire]

As a casual observation, with gold prices rallying like they are and investors/people trying to find safe havens (like precious metals or the Yen etc.) to park their money, that tends to signal that a big problem/collapse is coming ... rough seas are ahead and few seem to have grasped how bad it could be. Also, all these government stimulus packages that they have splashed around are coming to an end as they are unsustainable. It's only just started.

[nanyang]

As a casual observation, with gold prices rallying like they are and investors/people trying to find safe havens (like precious metals or the Yen etc.) to park their money, that tends to signal that a big problem/collapse is coming ... rough seas are ahead and few seem to have grasped how bad it could be. Also, all these government stimulus packages that they have splashed around are coming to an end as they are unsustainable. It's only just started.

Correct, it's going to be ugly - at many levels of society.

[dtaai-maai]

... it's going to be ugly - at many levels of society.

I'm not remotely concerned with the likes of Bumrungrad Hospital (who I note still made a substantial profit) or anyone in a position to find a safe haven to park their money, but in the lower levels of society who are likely to be the main losers, as usual.

[buksida]

Exporters feeling the pain - yet the baht remains like superman.

OCTOBER EXPORTS FALL 5.6 PERCENT, CENTRAL BANK SAYS
The Thai central bank on Monday released a report indicating that exports fell 5.6 percent in October from a year earlier after September’s 4.2 percent drop.

Thailand recorded a current account surplus of 0.99 billion U.S. dollars in October after a surplus of 1.31 billion U.S. dollars the previous month, the Bank of Thailand (BoT) said in a Monday press conference.

The BoT added that October’s imports declined 12.1 percent from a year earlier, resulting in a trade surplus of 3.17 billion U.S. dollars in the month.

In this October, Thailand’s economy contracted at a higher rate compared to the previous month due mainly to the fading of temporary factors and last year’s high base effect, explained Chayawadee Chai-Anant, senior director at BoT’s Economic and Policy Department.

She further added that private consumption indicators contracted after experiencing a marginal expansion in September, as the temporary factor of special long holidays came to an end.

In regards to the tourism sector, severe contraction continued due to travel restrictions on foreign arrivals, Chayawadee said. The number of tourist arrivals contracted 100 percent year on year as travel restrictions remained in place.

https://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/cri ... bank-says/

[buksida]

Smartphone sales dip 7.6%
Local smartphone sales fell 7.6% year-on-year to 4.7 million units in the third quarter, in line with a crucial drop in the global market, pressured by economic woes and concerns about the next wave of the pandemic, says global research and advisory firm Gartner.

In the same quarter last year, smartphone sales in Thailand booked 5 million units.

At the global level, third-quarter smartphone sales plunged 5.7% year-on-year to 366 million units.

Global smartphone sales remained weaker compared with the same time period in 2019, even with vendors introducing multiple 5G smartphones and governments relaxing measures in the wake of the pandemic, Gartner indicates.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/20 ... s-dip-7-6-

[handdrummer]

How many "smart" phones does any one need? It's not like they're out of date in 12 months. Yes, I know that there are people who must have the latest whatever but, they are not the majority. Maybe the manufacturers will start making phones that fail in a year and the buyers will be have to purchase a new one. Planned obsolescence isn't dead.

[buksida]

Maybe the manufacturers will start making phones that fail in a year and the buyers will be have to purchase a new one. Planned obsolescence isn't dead.

They already do - batteries are now built-in and have a predetermined life cycle and companies like Apple have already been caught purposely slowing devices down with their software updates. This discussion is probably better suited here though viewtopic.php?f=15&t=22034