Toyota to leave 180 producers after local content rule abolished

Toyota Motor (Thailand) will terminate purchasing deals made with nearly two hundred local parts producers when the local content rule is abolished at the end of 1999. The producers have been supplying car parts to Toyota over the past decade. The liberalization will set car makers free to use quality and low-priced parts from the overseas market.

Only 20 of the 200 parts producers have been selected to continue supplying parts for Toyota in Thailand, said Boonchai Malsukhum, general manager of VBP Industrial, a leading producer that supplies plastic, fiberglass and electrical equipment to car makers. Almost all 600 local parts producers may have to shut down or sell their operations to foreign companies because they will not be able to compete, Boonchai said.

Toyota Motor is the largest purchaser in the local auto parts market.

The termination of the purchasing deals it is strictly the policy of parent companies back home that are causing car makers here to switch to cheaper CKD parts from overseas markets.

About 40,000 jobs in the auto parts industry will be severely affected.

‘Change the generals before we lose,’ warns BBL chairman

The country is now at war with its economy, and the leaders, the generals, must be cool enough to cope with the changing situations. Change the generals, if necessary, before we lose the war, warns Dr Kosit Panpiemrat, chairman of Bangkok Bank, the country’s largest commercial bank, which is among only a few to survive the worse financial crisis.

Dr Kosit, who is also a former minister of finance, sent his warning messages directly to Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai and Finance Minister Tarrin Nimmanahaeminda during an address to a dinner talk forum organized by the Wisconsin University Alumni on Wednesday night, in front of hundreds of foreign and local bankers.

Dr Kosit has predicted a U-shape discovery, which would drag the country into a U-turn of another two-year period under economic hardships.

‘Hand it on to the cool ones if you felt improperly,’ tells Dr Kosit, to the PM and the FM.

Thailand Travel Mart scheduled for next year

The Thai Hotel Association, in corporation with the Association of Thai Travel Agencies, will organize the Thailand Travel Mart in Bangkok sometime in May or June next year, The fair will bring together sellers and buyers in the travel business from all over the world. The travel marketing fair will also help promote travels to Thailand.

Besides large players in the business, small travel agencies and government agencies will also benefit from this marketing fair, said Prakit Shinamornpong, THA secretary-general. Tour operators and travel agencies in the three Indochinese states - Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia - will also join the fair, which will propose regional packages to buyers, he said.

Thai Airways International and others will be invited to join this sales exhibition.

Hundreds of prospective buyers will be invited to the fair, with free accommodations by THA. The fair will be the first of its kind ever organized here by the private sector.

Higher room rates expected in Pattaya later this year

From October 1, room rates in Pattaya City are expected to rise 15% to 20% as hotels said they have higher costs due to community taxes collected by local administrations. All the travel agencies have agreed to the new rates, and between 30% and 40% of rooms have been sold in advance, said Anusak Rodboonmee, manager of Asia Pattaya Hotel.

However, the new rates will be applied to inbound travel agencies only, while local tourists will still enjoy the current rates, which are currently 3 times lower than those in Phuket, Anusak said. Anusak is also an advisor to the Eastern Hotel Association. This is the first rate adjustment in 20 years by Pattaya hotels, he said.

Pattaya has enjoyed the fallout from the Phuket boom as tourists escape expensive rooms to the beach resort city, only a one-and-a-half-hour drive from Bangkok.

Pattaya City has the second most hotel rooms only after Bangkok. Entries have increase 5% to 10% during the low-season months. Almost all the Chinese visitors to Thailand will visit Pattaya.

Tourism operators warned about regional rivalry

Though foreign tourists have visited Samui in an increasing number this year, hotels and operators in the industry have been warned about traditional rivals in the region which are now staging to come back into the business after political turmoil. Bali, for instance, has fully come back to the scene after two years of political instability, and is offering much lower prices to foreign tourists.

Entries into the southern tourist resort island of Samui, in Surat Thani, have increased by 9.28% in the first half of the year, said Khamron Chalermroj, Region 5 tourism director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand. A total of 87,399 foreign tourists visited the island in the first three months this year, he said. But expensive rooms and accommodations will scare them off, Khamron said.

Notes: Tourists to Samui are mainly German, English, Swiss and Italian. There are more options as the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia have returned to business as usual. More oriental tourists - Japanese, Korean and Chinese - recently started coming back to Samui. On-shore eco-tour programs will get promoted in the second half this year.

Athlon launch forces Intel to cut price

The launch of AMD Athlon high-speed processors on Tuesday (Aug 17) has left Intel Microelectronics (Thailand) no choice but to bring down prices of Pentium III Processors from 15% to 35%, to compete in the upper-scaled market. Intel was expected to announce the price cut on August 20, said industry sources.

Intel is set to slash the prices of Pentium III Processor 450 MHz by 15%, 500 MHz by 35%, and 550 MHz by 22%. However, Pentium III Processors will still be about 10% more expensive than those of AMD after the price cut, said Kasin Aramseriwong, managing director of Powell Computer Co, a leading local brand PC maker.

AMD on Tuesday introduced Powell Computer Co. and Atec Computer Co. as the chip’s two biggest customers in Thailand.

Athlon chip is now the fastest processor on earth, with a higher technology used in the make, even far better than that used by Intel Xeon chip.

Atec Computer is set to introduce two models of servers driven by 500 MHz and 600 MHz AMD Athlon processors.

Electronic products producers set for ‘digital wars’ in 2000

Local producers in the electronic appliance market are set to introduce new products later this year, and to spend millions in sales campaigns, with full backup from parent companies abroad.

Pioneer Electronics (Thailand), Aiwa International (Thailand), LG Mitr Electronics, and Samsung will spend millions in improving their products over the last several months.

According to Shinsuke Yoshida, managing director of Sony Thai, which controls 30% of the electronic appliance market in Thailand, the company will go ahead into the new millennium with its digital product lines. Sony is the first to introduce the digital, flat-screen TV, WEGA, here. Sony is selling 5,000 sets of WEGA TV each month, Yoshida said.

WEGA TVs are now produced in Thailand, and the price will be 10% to 20% lower.

The electronic appliance market will have a billing of more than Baht 10 billion this year.

Pioneer will change its logo and introduce mini-stereo sets to tap into teenagers market for the first time.

LG will spend up to Baht 200 in building its product image this year.

Copyright 1998 Pattaya Mail Publishing Co.Ltd.
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Updated by Chinnaporn Sangwanlek.