BANGKOK, May 16 – Thailand’s sugarcane production hit a record high this year, in contrast to the slump in sugar prices, a senior official said today.

Somsak Suwatika, secretary general of the Cane and Sugar Office, said the global sugar price has declined to 16 US cents per pound, the lowest in 34 years, while the strong baht has affected sales for the entire cane and sugar industries.

BANGKOK, May 17 – The Thai private sector is satisfied with the baht movement at Bt29-30 against the US dollar – a rate on par with other regional currencies, according to the president of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (TCC).

BANGKOK, May 17 – The Thai government realised net revenue of Bt127.581 billion last month, 9 per cent higher than its earlier estimate of Bt10.585 billion, a Finance Ministry spokesman reported today.

BANGKOK, May 15 – Thailand is unlikely to re-emerge as the world’s top exporter of rice given its current high prices and the strengthening baht, a leading rice exporter said today.

BANGKOK, May 16 – Thailand’s state-owned oil conglomerate PTT has an ambitious plan to invest in oil refineries and the oil retail business in Southeast Asian countries starting with Vietnam, according to president Pailin Chuchottaworn.

BANGKOK, May 15 – Enhanced Thai-Bangladeshi cooperation will double the trading volume between the two countries to US$1.7 billion in the next three years, Thailand’s commerce minister said today. 

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on May 15 presided over the ceremony to mark the end of shackling inmates with iron chains and bars at maximum-security Bang Kwang Central Prison in Nonthaburi, ending a century-old practice which draws ire among rights groups as a human rights violation.

BANGKOK, May 15 – Thailand’s Industry Ministry will earmark a Bt1.754 billion (US$60 million) subsidy for the construction of flood-prevention walls at four industrial estates in northern Bangkok and further north Ayutthaya, minister Prasert Boonchaisuk said today.

BANGKOK, May 16 – The government-sponsored bill seeking Bt2 trillion in loan for Thailand’s infrastructure development will not be ready for debate in Parliament’s extraordinary session on May 29-31, according to Minister of the Prime Minister’s Office.

RANONG, MAY 15 – An attempt to conserve a disappearing species, the water onion, in this southern Thai province continues to prevent the species disappearing altogether from the wild.