Bangkok Post

Industry executives say annual sales have been coming in at 18 million units.

Despite the boom in smartphones, price competition for the devices and mobile data tariff packages will not be strong due to the as-yet limited 3G network coverage.

Pratthana Leelapanang, the senior vice-president for digital products and services at Advanced Info Service (AIS), said smartphones will likely account for half the 25 million mobiles sold this year.

Speaking at Thailand Mobile Expo 2013 at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center yesterday, he said most handset sales will be part of a “tremendous shift” in demand to 3G smartphones from 2G mobiles.

Thailand has 75 million mobile subscribers, most of them with two or three mobile numbers for smartphones and tablets.

Mr Pratthana said the overall non-voice market is expected to grow by 25% to 65 billion baht…

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The Nation

Clearly, foreign tourists seeking medical services shrug off higher costs due to fluctuating exchange rates. They need quality and medical professionalism. In fact, medical costs in Thailand are not much different from those of other countries in the region, and doctors’ fees are quite a bit cheaper.

Wilaiwan Tawitsri, governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), said the outlook for medical tourism remained optimistic, with a growing number of foreigners using such services. She attributed its growth to the country’s medical progress and professionalism and the choices available to patients. However, Thailand has been weak in advertising and public relations to lure medical tourists.

Last year, 2.4 million foreigners arrived for medical services, spending Bt140 billion. In 2015, the number of foreign tourists for this purpose is expected to increase to 3 million, with total spending of Bt300 billion.

Plastic surgery, which takes three to four days, costs about Bt100,000 per trip, while a two-day skin treatment costs Bt500,000 per trip. These costs are for the hospital or clinic charges only and do not include what these visitors spend…

Full story from The Nation at http://goo.gl/XUiVt

Bangkok Post

The SET index sank below the psychological level of 1,600 points to reach the day’s low of 1,582.76 or a 2.97% fall before rebounding to close at 1,607.46 or a 1.46% drop after brisk trade worth 78.1 billion baht.

The baht weakened by the greatest amount in almost two weeks to go above the important psychological level of 30 to the US dollar briefly before recovering to 29.89/29.95 as the greenback gained against major currencies.

Japan’s stock markets were the worst performers among their regional peers.

The Nikkei 225 plunged 7.32% as the Topix slumped 6.87%, their biggest daily drop since March 15, 2011 in the aftermath of Japan’s earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster.

Futures trading in Osaka was halted at 2.28pm in Tokyo as circuit-breakers were triggered, the first time trading of the…

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Bangkok Post

Of the total budget, about 300 million baht each will be spent to open at least 30 new yakiniku (grilled) buffet restaurants this year and next, while the remaining 300 million will be used from 2015-17 to add 10 new branches each year.

Miyabi expects to have 120 restaurants by 2017, with sales of 3 billion baht, up from 160 million last year. At that time, Miyabi Group will seek listing on the stock market.

The company expects to hire about 900 new workers over its five-year expansion.

It was established five years ago by three friends working in the fields of architecture, finance and computers.

It now operates three Japanese yakiniku restaurants comprising Miyabi, Miyabi Kaiten and Jousen.

Wabisabi, offering premium grilled food, will be added later this year.

“We want to build a strong reputation for Japanese yakiniku buffet restaurants in Thailand. Grilled food is a new trend…

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The Nation

Somchai Harnhirun, the OIE director-general, said that the office has finalised its relief measures, which would be submitted to the NESDB.

To boost imports of capital goods and machinery for increasing efficiency, soft loans should be provided to operators, he said. Another measure is to promote Thai operators to invest abroad by offering corporate income tax deduction on remittances to Thailand.

To cope with short-term baht volatility, the OIE plans to provide foreign exchange hedging knowledge to small- and medium-sized enterprises and support expansion in the domestic, bordering and neighbouring markets. Operators’ working capital and relaxation in US dollar trade throughout the supply chain in the country…

Full story from The Nation at http://goo.gl/hTtia

Bangkok Post

Prachuab Supinee, Thailand’s commercial counsellor in Myanmar, called on Thai companies including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to develop a presence in Myanmar to understand the market and find partners.

“If you are actually in the market, you will know the market potential. SMEs in particular will never know what’s happening there if they don’t invest,” he said yesterday at an AEC seminar hosted by KPMG Thailand.

“Development is happening quickly in Myanmar. After opening the Mandalay checkpoint for foreign access, it opened two more checkpoints last month including one at Ban Phu Nam Ron in Kanchanaburi.”

Myanmar’s manufacturing sector does not have enough capacity to serve domestic demand, providing opportunities for Thai companies to set up production or distribution there. Of a population of 48 million people, 80% are in favour of imported products, especially Thai products, because they believe the goods are better quality than those…

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The Nation

Surachai Chitratsenee, senior executive vice president of SME banking, said yesterday that customer demand for trade financing should weaken from last year in line with the strengthening of the baht.

Exporters facing high costs are accepting fewer orders from abroad to avoid foreign-exchange losses. The slowdown in the export business has reduced loan drawdowns, so the bank is attempting to tap importers, since they are the segment benefiting from the strong baht.

At only 6-7 per cent, first-quarter loan growth fell short of target because of serious competition in SME banking and the sluggishness in trade financing.

However, the bank is sticking with its business plan, since it has many deals in the pipeline for the rest of this year. The bank still believes it can meet the growth target of 25-30 per cent for its Bt40-billion SME loan portfolio.

The furious competition is squeezing the bank’s net interest margin (NIM), which has shrunk by 15-25 basis points from 3.75 per cent last year. NIM this year should be around 3.6 per cent, which is acceptable for the bank…

Full story from The Nation at http://goo.gl/LtcpG

Bangkok Post

“We have reaffirmed our competitive position within the consumer electronics industry thanks to our variety of product lines and lower prices,” said Kenji Kumaki, the president and managing director of Nikon Sales (Thailand), the Japanese firm’s Bangkok-based subsidiary.

Nikon Thailand recorded 70% year-on-year revenue growth last year, outpacing local industry growth of 13%.

The company had a 10% increase in market share for digital single-lens reflex cameras (SLRs).

Market share in the company’s equally popular mirrorless cameras, which have an interchangeable lens but no mirror-based optical viewfinder, also saw growth of nearly 20% last year.

Despite the increase in market share, last year’s overall growth for Nikon, whose parent company is multinational conglomerate the Mitsubishi Group, was only 13%.

Mr Kumaki openly admits the astonishing success of smartphones has nearly depleted sales of the…

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The Nation

“Because of the baht’s appreciation that creates a lower return for exporters, they will force farmers to purchase goods at low prices and that will end up hitting local farmers hard,” permanent secretary Vatchari Vimooktayon said yesterday.

The ministry reported that exports last month improved 10.52 per cent to US$18.69 billion, or 5.37 per cent Bt543.7 billion in baht terms.

Exports in the first four months grew 5.74 per cent to $75.66 billion, or only 1.6 per cent to Bt2.24 trillion.

The strong performance was attributed to a low base in April last year. Industrial exports climbed by 9.4 per cent, but farm goods and agro-industrial products declined 2.8 per cent.

If government agencies have no plan to solve the baht problem, shipments this year could even miss the recently reduced target of 7-7.5 per cent to between $245 billion and…

Full story from The Nation at http://goo.gl/tOZdF

Bangkok Post

Director-general Naris Chaiyasoot said his department will hold an auction for private developers wanting to participate.

Three of the plots are along the Bangkok-Phitsanulok section of the planned northern rail line _ 40 rai in Lop Buri province, 453 rai in Phitsanulok and 845 rai in Nakhon Sawan.

This rail section is expected to be the first to begin construction.

The other two plots are along the Bangkok-Nakhon Ratchasima and Bangkok-Hua Hin routes. They are 550 rai in Nakhon Ratchasima and 30 rai in Phetchaburi’s Cha-am district.

The high-speed railway is a major part of the Pheu Thai-led coalition government’s 2 trillion baht worth of infrastructure projects planned over the course of seven years starting this year.

A draft bill allowing the government to borrow to fund project investment is awaiting parliamentary…

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