TDRI: Weaker baht due to foreign capital outflow

The current weakening of the baht stems from an outflow of foreign capital after investors dumped shares in the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), according to the Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI).
Chalongphop Susangkarn, a distinguished academic at TDRI, said there is no definite formula to supervise the baht value.
What agencies concerned must do is to oversee the baht to ensure it is not too strong when compared with other currencies of rivals, he said, adding that capital should be allowed to flow in and out to reduce speculation.
He predicted that the US dollar will continue weakening because the US economy has not recovered clearly.
Many countries had attempted to reduce the role of the US dollar and replace it with other currencies, but it will take time because the Japanese yen and Chinese yuan are not in position to replace the US dollar.
Regarding the Central Administrative Court’s injunction against operations of many industrial projects in Maptaput Industrial Estate, Chalongphop said the government must continue to quicken the pace of transparency as foreign investors view investment rules as having importance and that the government’s policy must be clear and definite. (TNA)

Automotive Focus Group focuses on Logistics

(L to R) Jim Holloway, VPack & Move; Russell Pang, Ceva Logistics; Mike Diamente (Dana); Alain Deurwaerder, Katoen Natie, and Peera Thaweechart, DHL.

Dr Iain Corness
The latest Automotive Focus Group (AFG) seminar was held at the Hard Rock Hotel and the Logistics subject attracted around 30 members to the venue, despite the wet weather.
The panelists covered some of the main players in the logistics arena and included Ceva Logistics, DHL, Katoen Natie and VPack & Move, who spoke on why (and how) logistics are a savings and benefit to the auto industry.
The seminar was moderated by Mike Diamente (Dana) and the subjects Inventory Management, Packing Design, Freight Forwarding and Airfreight, Value Added and On Site Logistics, Transportation and Local Distribution and the need for specialized handling of small export orders to reduce/eliminate damages.
The AFG members were addressed by Peera Thaweechart - DHL; Alain Deurwaerder - Katoen Natie; Russell Pang - Ceva Logistics and Jim Holloway - VPack & Move (the fifth panelist John Faulds - GAC, tendered his apologies, being laid up with influenza).
Before the seminar, there had been an article in the national Thai press comparing “Supply Chain Management” (SCM) and “Sales & Operations Planning” (S&OP). Long-time auto man George Strampp (Automotive Manufacturing Solutions) bringing out that he, “Struggled with the author’s comparisons of these areas of management with a divining rod without catching the significance of one to the other. Granted, they are both important areas of a business but it seemed to me to be a management consultant’s ‘gobbledygook’ in search of clients but I thought it might be interesting to have the panel highlight the differences, similarities or impact of SCM on S&OP or vice versa?” George need not have worried, as the AFG members all felt the same! In business these days, a level head is really required.
All the panelists (naturally) believed that logistics and outsourcing were important for the auto industry and offered significant benefits for the manufacturers, and with Katoen Natie having been in the business for 150 years, Alain Deurwaerder felt they knew how to integrate with a manufacturer, and even have erected on-site warehousing to assist the manufacturer with the ‘Just In Time’ concept.
The panelists highlighted one area where they felt that some thought needed to be applied where delivery trucks are returning empty, instead of looking at ways to provide shared transport as a cost saving exercise.
It was a seminar which had much significant information for the AFG members and the lively question time showed just how much interest there was in the subject.
The AFG can be contacted through the secretariat email [email protected].
 

Tourism entrepreneurs encouraged to target Indonesian market

Ariyawat Nuamsawat
Veerasak Kowsurat, the former minister of tourism and sports, is encouraging local tourism entrepreneurs to tap into the 230 million potential tourists from Indonesia as one way to help address the current tourism slowdown in Pattaya.

Jamroon Wisawachaipan (center), president of the Pattaya Business and Tourism Association, presents a souvenir to Veerasak Kowsurat (left), former minister of tourism and sports as Dujduan Ruangwettiwong (right) assists.

Veerasak was the guest speaker at the Pattaya Business and Tourism Association’s special seminar October 17 at the Long Beach Hotel in Pattaya.
Veerasak also spoke about the global situation and how it is affecting tourism, saying he doesn’t feel the problem is overly serious, despite domestic political problems and the A(H1N1) Flu scare.
He said the way to get back on track would be to explore new tourism markets, especially in Asia. He extolled the virtues of targeting Indonesia, which has a population of over 230 million people. Since next year the Indonesian government plans to cancel fees for their citizens to travel outside the country, this will create a large new market of potential tourists.
Veerasak also feels that Japan is an important country, as tourists from Japan have a larger amount of disposable income. Although this tourist group has all but disappeared from Pattaya, it has been 1 of the top 5 tourism markets for Thailand.
Finally, the former minister of tourism and sports reminded tourism professionals here of the importance of continuing to attend ITB in Germany, WTM in the UK, CITM in China, and JATA in Japan.