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   BUSINESS NEWS

HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]:
ASIAN to organize “Visit ASEAN 2002”

Thailand acts against dumping from Indonesia and India

AsiaNet with City Bank to provide payment gateway services

FPD conducts marketing research on Thai tourism and hotels

Bright future for Thai rice exported to Iraq

Isuzu has confidence in double-cab pickup truck market

High competition forces 3-star hotels to find foreign partners

ASEAN to organize “Visit ASEAN 2002”

The 10 members of ASEAN have agreed to jointly together work on an ASEAN tourism promotional plan under the name “Visit ASEAN 2002” - aiming to make ASEAN a single destination for all tourists.

“Visit ASEAN” will mainly concentrate on marketing, with cooperation from the private sector and airlines. Projects like the ASEAN Fair will call on those in the tourism business in the private sector to join together to set promotional plans. The campaign will be conducted under one group logo.

ASEAN countries have long been cooperating towards promoting tourism in the region. Country members organize a forum every year to discuss their plans and solve problems together. “Visit ASEAN 2002” is a new plan that the group will be working together under the same marketing strategy.

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Thailand acts against dumping from Indonesia and India

The Ministry of Commerce announced they will increase the import tax on glass products from Indonesia, from 14.21% and 18.54% of the C.I.F. price to 39.96% of the C.I.F. price. The new tax rate is being levied against Indonesia for their dumping of glass products onto the Thai market, which is creating problems for Thai glass producers.

Hydrogen peroxide imported from India is another product type that is on the Thai antidumping list. Hydrogen peroxide that has India as its country of origin has been levied 30% import tax at the F.O.B. price for the past 5 years. The Ministry of Commerce decided to extend the antidumping period on this product to prevent a return of the same behavior.

The Antidumping Law is activated in accordance with WTO’s antidumping agreement, to help local producers compete in the marketplace with imported products.

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AsiaNet with City Bank to provide payment gateway services

Suttichai Chuenchoo-silp, Managing Director of Asia Infonet, said that the company has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with City Bank under a primary agreement to cooperate in developing “payment gateway” ญ an online bill payment service.

Initially, the service can be used to pay AsiaNet internet bills and Telecom Asia phone bills, but services will be continually expanded to cover other types of bill payments. Online payment will offer many alternative methods, such as payment through credit or debit card, and by deduction from users’ bank accounts. Details are now under discussion.

Recently, Asia Net launched a new service called Virtual Private Network through ISDN cable. At the moment, company is working on high speed internet through cable modem. Testing on cable modem usage has been conducted on 80 home users to study all possible problems before officially providing the service.

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FPD conducts marketing research on Thai tourism and hotels

FPD Savills announced the results of its marketing research regarding hotel and tourism in Thailand, saying that, “the overall picture is good and the number of tourists tends to be increasing.”

Popular tourist spots are still Phuket and Samui Island, while Northern Thailand will draw in fewer tourists. Hotels in Bangkok will have high competition in price and services.

Research indicated that the highest growth in the hotel industry is in Phuket, which is competing with Bali. However, tourists tend to spend a longer time in Samui than Phuket, and are interested in staying in bungalows and 1-2 stars hotels. Research also mentioned that Pattaya and Rayong still do not have a nice reputation.

This year it is expected that the number of tourists coming to Thailand will increase by 8.2%, or about 9.3 million tourists. Last year Thailand earned 800 million baht in revenue from tourism, which is 15% of GDP.

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Bright future for Thai rice exported to Iraq

The United Nations provides financial aid to Iraq for the country to buy agricultural products for its own consumption, under the project name “Oil For Food”. The program is valued at US$6 billion, divided into 3 years, or about US$2 billion each year.

Thai rice exporters expect the financial aid provided to Iraq will help increase rice imported by Iraq. Increasing oil prices in the world market are also expected to increase Iraq’s revenue and purchasing power, as the country is a leading oil exporter.

Iraq imports a large amount of Thai agricultural products each year. Rice imported from Thailand amounts to 30% of total rice imported into Iraq, about 220,000 MT annually. Rice exports from Thailand to Iraq are expected to increase to 140,000 MT per year. Thailand’s biggest competitors are China and Vietnam.

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Isuzu has confidence in double-cab pickup truck market

Tri-Petch Isuzu Sales ญ assembling manufacturer and distributor of Isuzu pickup trucks in Thailand ญ is confident that the company will be successful in the double-cab pickup truck market, for the reason that Isuzu pickup trucks are popular and well accepted among Thai users. Isuzu has been the leader in the pickup truck market in Thailand for the past 17 years.

Isuzu is now ready with parts and components for assembling double-cab pickup trucks, while some production lines are being adjusted to be compatible with the Thai market. The double-cab pickup truck will be ready to enter the market soon.

New tax practice will result in more competition in the pickup truck market. However, Isuzu sales in December 1999 and January 2000 have been growing, resulting from Thailand’s improving economy.

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High competition forces 3-star hotels to find foreign partners

Daniel Nelson, Director of First Pacific Davies, a multi-international property consultant company, said that due to high competition in the hotel industry, 3-star hotels need to seriously adapt themselves in order to meet international standards.

The practical alternatives to deal with this market change can be that these hotels seek business partners from both locally and abroad, or buy into an international hotel chain and adopt professional management in order to gain guests’ confidence.

There is not only high competition amongst hotels within Thailand, but there is also fierce competition from other countries. Thailand’s neighbor’s, such as Malaysia and Indonesia, which are important competitors, are increasingly paying more attention to the tourism business. Thailand’s stronger point over its competitors is its better political stability. However, the weak point is that it has a less variety of tourist spots.

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Updated by Chinnaporn Sangwanlek, assisted by Boonsiri Suansuk.