Construction material exports grow more than 60% in Q1

Thailand’s construction material exports in the first quarter of this year grew over 60% year-on-year to US$2.9 billion due to higher demand, particularly for steel.

Srirat Rastapana.

International Trade Promotion Department Director-General Srirat Rastapana said the country’s overall export value is expected to reach at least $10.7 billion this year, representing a rise of 10 percent year-on-year. Steel accounts for 5.2 percent of the country’s overall exports.
Steel exports in Q1 were valued at more than US$2.2 billion, an 83 percent increase, mostly to Hong Kong, Japan, Australia, Indonesia, and India, respectively.
Srirat said the construction materials volume exported to Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam tends to be higher due to infrastructure investment expansion in each country to welcome the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) economic community in 2015, particularly Myanmar.
Thailand currently is a strong player as a steel module exporter. However, Srirat said if Thailand has its own upstream steel industry, it would depend less on raw material imports of copper and scrap, for prices in both categories tend to fluctuate and become higher in the world market.
For strategies to push the steel trade higher, the Thai government will try to promote and speed up negotiations on opening more markets with other countries, in particular for steel and other related products, while trying to expand such trade in the markets where infrastructure investment expansion is already focused.
Meanwhile, Srirat said Thai entrepreneurs should strengthen their competitiveness in terms of producing steel construction products of good quality or of new design in order to add value to their merchandise. (MCOT)
 

Thai private sector pushes harder for government economic action

Thailand’s leading industrialists last week renewed pressure on the government, calling for measures to rein in the baht’s appreciation, cut the policy interest rate and stem foreign capital inflows.
Payungsak Chatsuthipol, Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) chairman, said after submitting a letter to the prime minister that the rocketing baht has compelled some industries to import parts to reduce production costs - an act which may inflict damage to the domestic supply chain.
The exchange rate at Bt29 against the dollar may reduce the targeted export growth at 8-9 percent to 4-4.5 percent and the impact will be visible in Q2-Q3 as exporters could not set their product prices given the volatile baht, he said.
He urged the prime minister to cement cooperation between the Finance Ministry and the Bank of Thailand (BoT) and called on the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), which normally meets every 6-8 weeks, to convene in a special discussion in light of the critical economic situation.
Stressing the FTI’s request for an interest rate reduction, Payungsak said, “If the MPC finds the FTI’s earlier call to lower the interest rate by 1 percent too harsh, it may choose to reduce only a little in combination with the Finance Ministry’s tax measures,” he suggested. The current policy interest rate is 2.75 percent.
The baht’s strength may bounce back now that the Central European Bank announced reducing the interest rate by 0.25 percent - a move which will possibly stimulate capital inflows into Asia, he said.
The baht has appreciated 6.28 percent since early this year, a reversal from the Japanese yen which depreciated 4.5 percent and Korean won which has slightly weakened by 7 percent, the FTI chairman said, adding that the private sector wants the baht’s movements to be stable and in line with other regional currencies.
The FTI will give the government a few weeks to tackle the baht and interest rate policies after which industrialists will decide on the next move if state agencies concerned fail to take concrete action.
In the letter to the premier, the FTI urged the government to adopt a crisis management approach to the exchange rate, switch from an inflation-targeting policy to include the exchange rate, speed up interest rate reduction, impose stricter measures on capital inflows and outflows, and adjust the BoT’s policy on issuing bonds. (MCOT)

Gecko exports thriving in Nakhon Phanom

Gecko exports in the northeastern province of Nakhon Phanom has become a lucrative business with total export value of at least ten million baht a month.
According to information from the wildlife checkpoint in Nakhon Phanom, entrepreneurs buy the lizards for export to China and Vietnam during this season with more than 100,000 geckos being exported each month. A gecko can fetch a price ranging from 30-100 baht depending on its size.
Normally, in summer, about Bt10 million is circulated monthly in the province’s gecko export business.
In 2012, more than 1.4 million geckos were exported, accounting for an income of over 140 million baht.
Kritsada Sakornwong, head of the Nakhon Phanom wildlife checkpoint said that gecko exports are permitted as a business, but permission must be asked to export the lizards. The authorities will soon try raising the animals to promote as a local business to help local people earn extra income. (MCOT)

Skytrain bosses reject DSI charges

Two top executives of the Bangkok mass transit system May 3 denied charges of malfeasance in an agreement to manage the capital’s Skytrain extended services.
Kiri Kanchanapas and Surapong Laoha-anya from the Bangkok Mass Transit System Plc (BTSC) acknowledged additional allegations at the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) but flatly turned down that any wrongdoing had occurred.
The DSI charged them with illegally signing an agreement with the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) to operate the extended sections of two mass transit routes: the Silom Line from Taksin to Wong Wien Yai stations and the Sukhumvit Line from Bangchak to Bearing stations.
They said the BTSC is a private company invited by the BMA to jointly manage the Skytrain service and the company would never intend to breach the law.
The DSI has yet to decide if it will submit the case to the Attorney General for further legal action.
BMA executives including Bangkok Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatr have been separately charged by the DSI in connection with the case. (MCOT)