Business News
Thailand business news, market trends, foreign investment, and economic updates—stay informed on stock market movements, entrepreneurship, and key developments shaping the economy. Get the latest from The Thaiger, your trusted source for business news in Thailand.
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Sponsored Long-term life in Thailand? 5 reasons private health insurance pays off in the long run
Thailand is a great place for expats and retirees, offering a warm climate, affordable living, and rich culture. However, healthcare can be tricky for foreigners since they aren’t eligible for public health coverage, and private care can be expensive. Private...
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Phuket Finance: Using exchange traded funds
PHUKET: In today’s uncertain economy, investors are increasingly seeking diversification, safety and a secure income. Interest rates continue to hover at or near all time lows in many countries, and the continued uncertainty about the strength of the global economic recovery has made many investors extra cautious. Nevertheless, there is one investment option available that can offer risk-adverse investors both…
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Phuket Business: Island’s inflation skyrockets
PHUKET: Not only does Phuket continue its reign as the most expensive (consumer) province in Thailand, but the island province’s rate of inflation doubles that of the national average, recent economic data shows. The Phuket Commerce Office, in collaboration with the Phuket provincial government and the Commerce Ministry’s Information Office and Bureau of Trade and Economic Indices, recently published the…
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Phuket Finance: No fund is risk free… but
PHUKET: I recently began using a very interesting fund with retirees who need a steady income called Lavaux Capital, which is run out of the very well-regulated jurisdiction of Switzerland. The managers have all been involved in trade finance for many years and basically specialize in bridge financing backed by insurance contracts. The fund pays 8% simple interest in quarterly…
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Phuket Business: Tourism growth projected at 15% by Seacon head
PHUKET: Piya Sosothikul, executive director of Seacon Group, and owner of the Renaissance Phuket Resort and Spa, recently gave his outlook for Phuket tourism. Mr Piya said he expects tourist arrivals to increase by 15% this year, despite a decline in arrivals from the island’s traditional tourist source markets in Western Europe, due to the economic and financial crises affecting…
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Phuket Business: Coca-Cola pouring B200mn into Thai cola battle; New player enters market
PHUKET: Coca-Cola (Coke) is spending 200 million baht on marketing in the final quarter of this year in hopes of surpassing Pepsi to become the undisputed leader of Thailand’s 38.5 billion baht carbonated-drink market.Colas represent about 75% of Thailand’s carbonated drink market. This is followed by flavored drinks (20%) and lemon-lime beverages (5%). The cola segment is also the most…
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Phuket Business: Get your head in the clouds
PHUKET: Information technology (IT) has dramatically changed the way people communicate and do business. Changes in information technology are rapidly taking place and investors who are able to spot the newest trends can profit from those trends greatly. One continually evolving trend is “cloud computing”. Investors focused on IT growth stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have several options when it…
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Phuket Business: ASEAN set to ink deals with China
PHUKET: ASEAN and Chinese leaders are set to ink two Free Trade Agreements (FTA) facilitating commerce at a bilateral summit later this month. Representatives will meet on November 18 in Cambodia, at a summit between ASEAN leaders and six partner countries.One agreement would eliminate some trade barriers related to sanitary and phytosanitary (animal and plant health) standards; the other would…
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Doing Business in Thailand: AMCHAM Legal Forum
PHUKET: AMCHAM will hold a forum titled ‘Doing Business in Thailand – 3 Things You Should Know’, on Thursday, November 29, at Royal Phuket Marina. Three top international lawyers will be on hand to talk about how to do business without Thai nominees, enforcing contracts through arbitration, and the increasing focus on criminal corrupt practices and anti-corruption laws. The event…
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Phuket Business: Andaman tourism campaign aims for 20 million
PHUKET: Woravat Auapinyakul, Minister to the Prime Minister’s Office, has told the Phuket Gazette that he expects the “Andaman – The World Experience” tourism initiative to attract more than 20 million tourists to the region. At a meeting at Phuket Provincial Hall held recently to chart the progress of the tourism initiative, Mr Woravat said that intense competition within the…
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Phuket Business: Makro – now bigger and better
PHUKET: The newly renovated Makro Phuket has reopened its doors, announcing that it is better equipped to meet the cooking and catering needs of local hotels, restaurants and cafés (HoReCa).With an emphasis on enhancing the capabilities of businesses to maintain international standards, the membership-based wholesaler has increased the quantity and diversity of its consumer products, which include both fresh and…
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Phuket Business: Rebalancing your stock portfolio
PHUKET: One thing you should do at least once each year as an investor, is re-balance your investment portfolio. I have come across many people who put together a good portfolio, but then, because of not re-balancing, have rode many of their best holdings up and back down. Simultaneously, they are under-invested on holdings that have their best returns many…
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Phuket Business: New trade records set for the island
PHUKET: The Phuket Customs House reported another record-breaking year for international trade, with the island’s surplus of exports over imports in 2012 peaking at 11.4 billion baht, a 10% annual jump. According to Phuket Customs’ receipts for the 2012 Thailand Government fiscal year (October 2011 – September 2012), the value of Phuket’s exports reached a new milestone of 13.5bn baht,…
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Phuket Business: Property executives heed warning
PHUKET: The island’s property market continues to grow with a high number of new apartments, condominiums and small hotels in line for approval.This “rising boom” sets the stage for the AEC (ASEAN Economic Community), which will come into effect in 2015. The Phuket Real Estate Association (PREA) recently held an “Executive Dinner Talk” at the Boat Lagoon Resort, inviting Songkran…
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Phuket Business: Food and energy inflation soaring
PHUKET: Once again, raw data from the Commerce Ministry has affirmed that the South, and particularly Phuket, continues to be “hotter” – in terms of the cost of living – than elsewhere in the Kingdom. The Phuket Commerce Office, in conjunction with the Commerce Ministry’s Bureau of Trade and Economic Indices, recently published the Provincial Consumer Price Index (CPI-P) for…
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Phuket Business: Why the island continues to buck recession
PHUKET: There is no question that Phuket over much of the last four years has recovered from global recession. However, what is more noticeable is how resilient it has been in terms of tourism, despite a global financial meltdown and political instability on a national level. This resilience allows Phuket to grow while other tourism areas of the world are…
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Phuket Investor: Insure your stock holdings
PHUKET: Some readers of the Phuket Gazette who have stock market investments may feel I ignore them, because of a personal bias against equity investments right now. For those of you who feel you have a knack for choosing good companies, or would like to participate in any upside in the broad markets, but would like to limit your exposure,…
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Phuket Business: Local petrol tax under scrutiny
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Administrative Organization (PPAO) last week refuted claims that they had introduced a “new” tax to be collected on the sale of all fuels in Phuket, including diesel, marine diesel, benzine and gasohol. The “maintenance tax”, levied as a 10% surcharge on the sale of all engine fuels, is the same tax previously collected by the Excise…
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Phuket Business: AirAsia shift to reap Chinese pie
PHUKET: As part of its latest strategic marketing shift, Low Cost Carrier (LCC) AirAsia recently canceled its Phuket flights to Ubon Ratchathani and Bali, topped off with the cancellation last week of its Thailand-Sri Lanka route. Meanwhile, the leading LCC has reinstated its Phuket-Udon Thani route, while revealing additional plans to shift and expand regional focus to the high-volume, high-growth,…
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Phuket Business: Challenges ahead of ASEAN’s young union
PHUKET: Eliminating tariffs that financially penalize members of ASEAN, is one of the stated long-term goals of the AEC (ASEAN Economic Community).When economic unions were proposed in the United States and Europe, tariffs became a defining factor that would later determine the outcome of those unions.Now that ASEAN has decided to form an economic union – the AEC – in…
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Phuket Business: Calculating the Sharpe ratio
PHUKET: One statistic you will often see when looking at a fund’s performance is the “Sharpe ratio”. This is an attempt to quantify the excess return for a given level of risk. For example, two funds may both return 12%. If one returns a steady 1% every month while the other swings up and down, common sense and our blood…
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Phuket Business: Signs of the island’s time
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Government recently published its economic summary report for the first six months of the year (F6M12). The in-depth report highlights year-on-year (y-o-y) figures and trends in trade, consumerism, and in the island’s tourism, property, investment and agricultural sectors. Here, the Phuket Gazette outlines some of these.TourismThe total number of tourist arrivals in F6M12 remained steady with…
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Phuket Investor: Excuse me, what is QE3?
PHUKET: Being a regular on the sun soaked shores of Phuket, watching the many boats sail by on a frequent basis, one may start thinking that QE3 is a new luxury cruise liner replacing the old QE2 that was recently decommissioned. Not the case. In the never ending roller-coaster ride that is the world of finance, this is the latest…
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Phuket Business: Let’s go back and review the basics
PHUKET: Every once in a while I think it’s good to go back and review the basics. This is especially important in a world where the rate of change keeps increasing. Ever since the financial crisis began we have heard a lot of saber rattling with regards to offshore financial centers, banking secrecy, tax information exchange agreements and so forth.…
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Phuket Business: New trade surplus milestone achieved
PHUKET: A new milestone was set for Phuket’s international trade last month with the the island’s annual surplus of exports over imports peaking at 11 billion baht – more than 700 million baht clear of last year’s full-year, record figure.According to Phuket Customs’ receipts for the 2012 fiscal year (October 2011 to September 2012), accounting through to the end of…
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Phuket Business: 200 years of market crises
PHUKET: With the US stock market sitting near its 52-week high, and already having made a 100% move upwards from its low at the peak of the sell-off that occurred during the financial crisis, I have dug a bit deeper into history to get a feel for the frequency of crashes. I have a good grip on the longer bull/bear…
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Phuket Business: Smile – you’re on THAI
PHUKET: Last week Prasert Tanhansa, manager of the THAI Airlines (TA) district sales office in Phuket, announced new Phuket routes to be serviced, starting next month, by the national carrier’s new airline, THAI Smile (TS). Here, the Phuket Gazette’s Chaiyot Yongcharoenchai speaks exclusively with Mr Prasert about market positioning, strategies and more. PHUKET GAZETTE: TS has been called by some…
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Phuket Business: PIMEX 2013 International Boat Show dates announced
PHUKET: THE 10th edition of the Phuket International Boat Show (PIMEX) will be held at the Royal Phuket Marina from March 21-24 next year, the event’s organizers have announced. As one of the region’s largest and most significant marine, boating and yachting exhibitions, the four-day event will showcase leading marine and lifestyle businesses, products and services with a large in-water…
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Phuket Business: Taking care of your parents
PHUKET: No, the title of this article isn’t a joke. Obviously, there is a big difference in cultural attitudes toward what responsibilities people have when it comes to family. There is no need to discuss this at length. Generally speaking, most Westerners are not under the same pressure to look after their aging family members as most Thais are. But…
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Phuket Business: Interfering with the navigation systems
PHUKET: Your aircraft has just landed at Phuket International Airport and out comes the ubiquitous mobile phone, despite the flight crew asking you to keep it switched off until the plane arrives at the gate, because of concerns it may interfere with the aircraft’s avionics, thus endangering all on board. A familiar scene to everyone arriving on Phuket and particularly…
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Phuket Business: The tree that bears fruit
PHUKET: At the helm of Anuphas Vividhkarn Co Ltd’s CSR program is Montavee “Tommy” Hongsyok. The 35-year-old Assistant Managing Director of Phuket’s exclusive Honda dealership follows in the footsteps of his father, Montri Hongsyok, an accomplished executive and respected community figure in Phuket. Following is a Q&A session that the Phuket Gazette recently had with Tommy about the Honda dealer’s…
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