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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Centara plans for MICE hub
PHUKET: The Centara Grand West Sands Resort & Villas Phuket revealed an expansion plan on May 16, which revolves around the construction of a new convention center. The resort is located on the west coast of Phuket near the Sarasin Bridge on Mai Khao Beach and already has 558 hotel rooms and a water park with swimming pools, lazy river…
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Finance: Service your clients the right way
PHUKET: I often run across clients of other firms who complain that they receive absolutely no service on their policies. I understand how they feel, but having been in the industry a long time, I also understand why. It is simply a misalignment of interests and is inherent in the way many of the insurance companies allow the introducing and…
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Finance: Where are the markets now?
PHUKET: On April 11, Alcoa Inc (NYSE:AA) started the first quarter earnings season by reporting a lower quarterly profit (US$16 million or zero cents per share versus US$195 million or 14 cents per share a year earlier) on lower revenue (down 15 per cent) as results were hurt by low commodity prices, the strong US dollar and plant closures. Alcoa’s…
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Business Buzz: Social media on the rise
PHUKET: I have been talking about the power of social media for over a year now, but there is no better way to showcase this power than to look at the US Presidential circus that is unfolding right before our eyes. As an avid follower of social media and how it is used both successfully and unsuccessfully, it is always…
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Zurich Bread: Engineering the perfect loaf
An engineer by trade, Singhathep Thepkanjana only spent six months working full-time in the field he studied for seven years, leaving university with a bachelor’s from Chulalongkorn University and a master’s degree in engineering management in Washington DC. Since then, this Bangkokian has pursued the perfect loaf – an endeavour that has taken him across continents. “I can count on…
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Finance: Take financial opinions with a pinch of salt
PHUKET: It’s very easy to get confused in the era of 24-hour media with regards to what’s going on in the world economy. To make matters worse financial opinions are often reported as facts. Many times there are hidden agendas behind these, so it’s important to take any opinions with a grain of salt. The idea for this article came…
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Finance: Analyzing key market indices for tech stocks
PHUKET: As of the end of March, US stock markets hit some overhead resistance on their technical charts and pulled back a bit, with the rally that started in February looking similar on the technical charts to the rally of September, which ultimately rolled over. There is a strong possibility that the market (or at least the S&P 500) has…
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Phuket cashew nut industry goes global
PHUKET: Metee Company Phuket Ltd’s unique cashew-nut cooking process and new packaging is bringing the company international recognition and larger revenues. The Chalong-based company is just one of several local businesses that have changed the quality of their products and branding in order to compete in larger markets. The company has since been accredited by the Ministry of Commerce as…
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Video is the future of digital ads
PHUKET: Digital ad spend is projected to be 9.9 billion baht this year, up almost 25 per cent from last year as a direct result of advertisers shifting from traditional media like print and television to digital media and online marketing. This is believed to be partly because of the cheaper cost of digital advertising and partly because it’s much…
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Finance: The right time to get back into the stock market
PHUKET: While all of my long term clients (and myself) have been in cash for some time, there will be a time to get back into the stock market, but when will that be? To recap recent market action: major United States and global indices have already moved higher off their panic February lows, led by retail, gold, materials and…
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Local fishermen dish out ‘fishy’ details
PHUKET: Anchovies may be small fry, but they are big business for some fishermen operating out of Phuket’s main fishing port. Known locally as ‘pla ching chang’, anchovies have been a steady source of income for the last 40 years for fishing boat owner Kumnueng Dumead. However, business is not always plain sailing, especially during the rainy season. “During the…
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Finance: What is a contrarian investor to do these days?
PHUKET: If you read my columns regularly, you know that I like to try to approach investing from a contrarian viewpoint. This basically means going against the crowd and the current trend, or essentially buying things when they are beaten and battered down and selling when everyone else loves them and thinks the run will last forever. So what does…
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Finance: Understanding Counter Trend Rallies
PHUKET: In early March, US and global markets began a short-term counter trend rally that has seen these markets regain about 50 per cent of their prior decline. However, there are reasons you need to remain cautious by staying largely in cash. The stock market began to rally in 2009, hitting an all-time high last summer. Since then, the market…
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Finance: How to meet the right people for success
PHUKET: They say you can determine a man’s income simply by taking the average of the four or five people with whom he spends the most time. I am not sure how scientific the study was that has produced this timeless piece of advice, but the general concept is easy to validate if you look closely at the people you…
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Business Buzz: Oversaturation of Facebook groups
PHUKET: One of the great benefits of Facebook is that due to the sheer number of people using it, it has become a marketer’s dream to easily and cheaply connect with potential customers and to market products and services with great results. But has it now reached the point of over-saturation? A classic case in point is the use of…
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Phuket International Academy Graduates to UWC Network
PHUKET: The Phuket International Academy confirmed last week its new affiliation with the global network of United World Colleges (UWC). “We are delighted to have become part of UWC; a leader in education in 15 different locations around the world. The UWC is a federation of independent international schools that use the same education model. This affiliation will also encourage…
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The LifeCo: The business of healing
PHUKET: One doesn’t have to look far to find a spa in Phuket, but recent years have seen a marked shift in this trend, as new and established business are looking to cash in on wellness, as opposed to opulence and luxury. The LifeCo Phuket Well-Being Center based in Thalang is the first for the company outside of Turkey, and…
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Finance: Building a larger stream of future income
PHUKET: I am often contacted by people without massive amounts of cash asking me what they can do to prepare for the future. Early in my career I tended to take the approach most people in the industry do, which is to focus on the rich and let everyone else know that you are sorry about not being able to…
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Feadship’s Asian market blooming
PHUKET: Well ahead of the incredibly successful inaugural Thailand Yacht Show (TYS), Feadship Royal Dutch Shipbuilders were making superyacht waves while expanding into the the Asian region. “At this moment, Feadship is building multiple yachts in different sizes and in different models for Asian and Asia-based clients. The product and the brand appeals to the most discerning yachtsmen in the…
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Finance: Will 2016 be the year of the bear?
PHUKET: There’s an old saying on Wall Street that might unnerve investors: “As goes January, so goes the year.” Unfortunately, January 2016 was a very bad opening for stock markets. In fact, it was one of the worst openings in one hundred years, as the Dow Jones industrial average fell about 5.5 per cent while NASDAQ fell almost eight per…
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Board of Trade plans SME matchmaking fairs
BANGKOK: Thailand’s Board of Trade is inviting newly established businesses across the country to join a ‘Business Matching’ event in Bangkok. The event is aimed at giving SMEs the opportunity to meet consumer giants such as department stores and retailers. The event will take place at the Bangkok Convention Center in Lat Prao on April 26. Board of Trade Chairman…
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Finance: Tech stocks are still dangerous
PHUKET: You would think the lessons learned in the dotcom bubble and subsequent crash would not be so quickly forgotten, but last year’s purchase by Facebook of the free smartphone app Whatsapp for 22 billion dollars was a very good reminder of how quickly we forget. There is no reason to put your life savings at risk with individual stocks…
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Business Buzz: How to master email marketing
PHUKET: Other than branding, one of the primary functions of social media marketing is to create a database of potential customers. But building the database is only the first step, so what do we do with it once we have it? I have previously discussed the importance and value of your database; now I am going to show you how…
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Finance: Understanding stop loss orders
PHUKET: With global stock markets off to a rough start this year, it’s time to take a closer look at stop loss orders and how they can help as well as hinder you from achieving your investment goals. So what exactly are stop loss orders? A stop loss, or simply a stop order, is an automatic trade placed in advance…
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Finance: Ups and downs in the price of oil
PHUKET: For somebody who pays attention to commodity prices, these are extremely interesting times. I still remember many talking heads on television predicting that we’d never see oil below 100 dollars per barrel. The argument was extremely convincing, especially when the markets seemed to be confirming its truth. With the flood of shale oil and the lifting of embargoes on…
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Asia Marine moves into motors
PHUKET: Asia Marine has been building, selling, chartering and managing yachts in Phuket for more than 25 years, and was voted ‘Best Asia based Yacht Charter Agent’ in the 2007 Asian Boating Awards. In December last year, Asia Marine CEO Vincent Tabuteau took the company in a new direction by joining forces with Frenchman Eric Noyel, founder of Asia Marine…
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Galileo Maritime Academy sends ambassadors to TYS
PHUKET: Thalang’s Galileo Maritime Academy is shining at the first-ever Thailand Yacht Show. Founded in 2012 by Brian Murray, a career chief engineer in the British Royal Navy and a superyacht captain for 30 years, Galileo offers courses that combine skill sets from the hospitality trade to the skills needed for working as superyacht crew. “The Thailand Yacht Show is…
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Battling boat show inertia
PHUKET: In a region already swamped with boat shows, the development of a new show has not been an easy undertaking, admitted Andy Treadwell, managing director of 3L Events, organizers of the Thailand Yacht Show (TYS) 2016 as well as the Singapore Yacht Show. The biggest problem with launching such a show is convincing the industry that you know what…
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Business Buzz: Maximize social media impact
PHUKET: When using social media, it is very important to establish exactly what it is that you want to achieve. It is also important to understand that each social media platform works differently and can achieve different things. Overall, there are a many purposes for which social media can be used, but the most common are branding, lead generation, information…
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Finance: Fancy a punt in the semiconductor market?
PHUKET: The semiconductor industry helps drive technological progress and yet many semiconductor stocks have lagged the performance of the broader technology sector recently. However, small cap MaxLinear, Inc (NYSE: MXL) is an exception as shares are up 134 per cent from the start of 2015 to November, plus shares rallied close to 28 per cent after the company reported third…
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