Business News
Stay abreast of the ever-changing Business News in Thailand through our comprehensive coverage of local and international business events, market trends, and economic updates. We provide reliable analysis, in-depth features, and expert insights on the most relevant business stories, including issues affecting Thailand’s stock market, foreign investment, and entrepreneurship. Track the business world’s pulse as we inform you of crucial developments shaping Thailand’s economic landscape.
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Phuket Business: Recalling the cycle of market emotions
PHUKET: My first investment was in a stock fund in 1990 when I was an engineering student at university. I was told to just buy and hold and put money in blindly and it will grow. They were somewhat right but I wanted to know more and began a quest to find a way to pinpoint what is known as…
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Phuket Business: Makro opens new branch in Patong
PHUKET: Membership-base, wholesale food retailer, Siam Makro PCL has expanded its Phuket operations with the opening of its Makro Food Service branch in Patong. Located in the area of the Mae Ubon Derm fresh market on Nanai Road in Patong, the new branch is the second Makro store on the island. Its retail area spans a total 1,000 square meters,…
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Phuket Business: Alien labor window extended
PHUKET: Employers of ‘low-skill migrant workers’ in Phuket and across Thailand have until March 16 to have their respective employees registered under the National Verification (NV) process, the Phuket Labor Office has confirmed. Applying specifically to temporary laborers from Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos, the latest NV deadline is an extension of another extension. The Phuket Gazette reported last week online…
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Rose vendors absorb inflation for ‘day of love’
PHUKET: Flower vendors across Phuket are relishing increased orders and sales for the ‘day for lovers’, even despite rising prices. Pran Supasri, a flower shop owner near Vachira Hospital says, “Rose prices have not increased significantly when compared to last year’s price.” He added that even though the price of roses has increased slightly ahead of Valentine’s Day, flower vendors…
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Phuket Business: Not in front of the children
PHUKET: While working from home might seem like a practical option for workers in Thailand wanting to cut commutes and spend more time on their personal lives, the reality is somewhat different. According to a survey conducted by Regus, the world’s largest provider of flexible workplaces, six in ten respondents who work from home in Thailand revealed that they’re regularly…
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Phuket Business: Inflation up for Chinese NY
PHUKET: The head of the Department of Internal Trade (DIT) Phuket Office said that the 300 baht daily minimum wage has contributed to market inflation ahead of the Chinese New Year festivities. DIT-Phuket Chief Supacha Bunthalit told the Phuket Gazette that increased wages directly increase base costs for farmers, suppliers and vendors. “Of course it [the minimum wage rise] is…
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Myanmar urges expedited processing of its migrant workers in Thailand
BANGKOK: Myanmar has urged Thailand to speed up registration of its citizens working in the Kingdom, with nearly one million workers and hundreds of thousands of their children still undocumented as the deadline draws near. Myint Thein, Myanmar’s deputy labor minister, was in Thailand last week to monitor progress of the government’s scheme to register millions of migrant workers. Thailand,…
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Local officials step up talks, spending for ASEAN economy
PHUKET: Local officials continue to intensify dialogue, and thus anticipation for the 2015 ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), with the economic positioning for Phuket and the Southern region gradually beginning to take form. The latest ‘AEC – Phuket get ready’ talks, held last week at the Phuket Provincial Hall, covered the latest regional economic integration challenges and opportunities. Phuket Governor Maitri…
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Phuket inflation tops South
PHUKET: Not only is Phuket still considered the most expensive consumer province in Thailand, but its annual inflation rate remains the highest in the South – the Kingdom’s most inflated region. Thailand’s cost of living in 2012, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), rose by 3.02% from the previous year, while overall inflation in Phuket was measured at…
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PATA meeting questions whether Thai culture is good for tourism
PHUKET: Despite the various shortcomings in Thailand’s service industry, tourists keep coming back, two Thai journalists recently told a tourism meeting in Bangkok. Attending the meeting, Ken Scott, Managing Director of his own communications firm, ScottAsia Communications, reports: Thailand is a like a cunning cheer leader, a good looker, an easy date who cheats at her exams and gossips about…
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Phuket Moevenpick to increase Thai occupancy
PHUKET: Moevenpick Resort Bangtao Beach, a luxury boutique hotel in Phuket, aims to raise its profile in the local arena by increasing the proportion of Thai guests to about 5% this year, up from a tiny slice at present.The hotel opened officially in mid-2011. The new strategy is part of the operator’s plan not to rely too heavily on foreign…
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Phuket absorbs Southern langsat surplus
PHUKET: The island’s supply of langsat (Lansium domesticum) has increased by 10 tonnes over the past few weeks due to a late-season harvest surplus in and near Thailand’s Deep South. Since about mid-January, several agriculture groups from Yala, Songkhla and Phatthalung have travelled to Phuket to sell the fruit wholesale, with the Phuket Office of Commercial Affairs (POCA) serving as…
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Phuket Finance: Exploring the theory of Peak Oil
PHUKET: I read a fascinating report recently from a Harvard researcher that shatters the common view of how quickly oil is becoming a scarce resource. It essentially states that – given new technology – the idea of “Peak Oil” is fundamentally flawed. Peak Oil is a theory that at a certain point in history (approaching very quickly), humans will reach…
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Phuket Business: Luxury auto dealer aligns brand with international football lovers
PHUKET: Football players from Phuket FC recently visited the TSL Auto Corporation (TSL) premium imported car showroom to thank the company for officially sponsoring the team in the upcoming Thai Yamaha One (Division 1) 2013 season. Phuket FC’s head coach Panipol Kerdyam made a personal appearance, alongside players Nontaphan Jiensathawong, Nenebi Tre Sylyee Tre, Luiz Eduardo Purcio, Girogi Tsimakuridze, Kritsada…
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Phuket Business: Virtually exposed
PHUKET: Although the concept of 360-degree virtual tours has been around for almost as long as the world-wide-web itself, such technology has only recently begun to yield its true potential. Thanks to the advent of developments in global positioning systems (GPS), camera technology and improved user interfaces, businesses the world over are poised to reap a plethora of benefits. Speaking…
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Phuket Business: New car owners due B1.2bn
PHUKET: More than 14,300 new car owners in Phuket took advantage of the government’s first-car rebate scheme, with the combined value of due rebates amounting to more than 1.2 billion baht. According to figures from the Phuket Excise Department (PED), a total of 14,327 eligible applications were filed in the province from September 16, 2011 to December 31, 2012. These…
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Phuket Business: Laguna Dusit Thani ready for influx of MICE
PHUKET: THE Dusit Thani Laguna Phuket has re-launched its renovated and revitalized meeting space in response to an increase in demand for 2013. The renovation cost 10 million baht and took two months to complete. The 2,408 square-foot Dusit Laguna Hall can now accommodate up to 300 people in a theater-style setting and is able to host 150 people for…
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Phuket Business: FDI shifting from China to ASEAN
PHUKET: Rising costs from higher wages and currency appreciation in China over the last two decades are prompting multinationals to look at expanding elsewhere, with ASEAN countries – particularly Vietnam – poised to benefit most. A recent report published by HSBC Global Research, titled “The great migration – how FDI [Foreign Direct Investment] is moving to ASEAN and India”, outlined…
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Phuket Business: MICE to bring in “the cheese’
PHUKET: THE Kingdom’s central planning authority for inbound corporate and organizational tourism expects to generate 180 billion baht from Asian and Oceanic MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) events over the next three years. The Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) recently drafted a three year MICE marketing strategy. The new strategy effectively replaces last year’s “Seven Wonders of the…
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Phuket Finance: UK bill reassures QROPS retirees
PHUKET: With the recent release of the draft finance bill for 2013, the UK government has eased worries of the QROPS (Qualified Recognized Overseas Pension Schemes) industry that new legislation might close down the market. Last year, offshore pension providers were quite shocked when HMRC (Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs) removed overnight the ability of expat retirees to transfer their…
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Phuket Finance: Investing in “frontier markets’
PHUKET: I have recently come across an investment concept that’s caught my interest, and for those of you with a speculative bit of capital to allocate – you might find it interesting also. Fund Management Group has recently launched an equity-based fund, spread across what they call new frontier countries. According to them, frontier markets represent 40% of the world’s…
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Phuket Business: The sweet taste of success at Vanich Sweetcorn Farm
PHUKET: Mr Apirag Vanich is the owner of the Vanich Sweetcorn Farm, which produces corn-based foodstuffs and drinks including; corn milk; boiled corn, fresh sweet corn and baby corn.They also produce three healthy drinks which are; butterfly pea flower tea, corn silk tea and mulberry juice. Vanich Sweetcorn Farm, spread out over an area of about 67 rai, uses modern…
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Phuket Finance: Endurance and persistence
PHUKET: Recently Phuket saw some of the best triathletes in the world descend on the island to participate in the Laguna Phuket Ironman 70.3 Triathlon. While I am extremely slow, I am a very keen endurance athlete. I do this race every year, as well as the marathon here, and am currently registered for my second full Ironman race next…
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Phuket Business: Reusable future
“We live in a world where every 12 seconds, a child dies because of dirty water and insanitation. CO2 continues to build up and forests are depleting. We live in a resource-constrained world. There are limits.” – Peter Bakker.PHUKET: These chilling words from Peter Bakker at a recent Bangkok symposium held by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)…
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Phuket Finance: Understanding your fund’s “duration’
PHUKET: As I have written extensively about the dangers of bond funds in the current environment, it is worth mentioning a standard measurement used to determine approximately how sensitive a bond portfolio or fund is to interest rate increases. Don’t let the word duration fool you; what the measurement actually means is, the approximate decrease in value for a 1%…
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Phuket Business: British Airways – 79 years of service to the Kingdom
PHUKET: After 79 years of service to Thailand, British Airways (BA) says it still sees the Kingdom as an important market because more executives, especially from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), will fly out to ink business deals.The airline will use its strong network to connect local businessmen not only to its home base in London, but also to other…
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Phuket Business: New “liberalization’ of aviation manufacturing
PHUKET: A new government initiative to allow foreign investors to hold 70 per cent or more of a company manufacturing aviation parts will help promote Thailand as a regional repair center for the industry, says an executive at Thai Airways International.Danuj Bunnag, executive vice president of THAI’s commercial department, welcomed the plan and said it would help strengthen Thailand’s performance…
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Phuket Business: Staying the course
PHUKET: The island’s first and only authentic miniature golf course, “Phuket Adventure Mini Golf”, recently celebrated the completion of its first year of operation. Swedish owners, Thomas and Pia Anderson, Phuket expats for nearly a decade, spoke to the Phuket Gazette about the past, present and future of their leisure attraction, the first of its kind in the Kingdom, located…
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Explaining UK pension transfers
PHUKET: For the many people who leave the UK each year to live, work and retire in Thailand, or many popular countries across the world, a decision needs to be made as to whether they will keep their private or occupational pension funds in the UK or transfer them overseas. Since April 6, 2006, an individual looking to transfer their…
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Phuket Business: B300 minimum wage hike to worsen labor shortage
PHUKET: With the nationwide minimum wage set to rise to 300 baht, a labor shortage tops the list of business risks for property and construction firms in 2013. To consumers, this could mean longer construction periods while they wait to take possession of their new homes.Thailand’s construction, infrastructure and manufacturing sectors are now facing a shortfall of about 200,000 workers.…
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