Briefs

The Commerce Ministry is planning to import crude palm oil, as the buffer stock is expected to drop below 150,000 tonnes as producers focus more on exporting overseas.
Moreover, the ministry is considering extending its price-freeze measure after it ends in September because of concerns that floating the price could hurt consumers.
Commerce Minister Boonsong Teriyaphirom said the ministry was closely monitoring the price of fast food, as it would be affected by increasing cooking-gas prices.
The prices of some consumer goods would also be hit by higher logistics costs.

SET’s annual contest for youth next month
The Stock Exchange of Thailand, together with government and private-sector units, will organise an annual contest to lay a strong foundation of economics, personal finance, insurance and the sufficiency-economy philosophy among youth, as one of the SET’s social activities to enhance education and learning for the young generation.
The “Diamond Crown in Economics: Nern Tong Kong-Mee Ka and Sufficiency Economy Philosophy Contest” will be held for the fourth consecutive year on August 25 and 26. Other sponsors are the Capital Market Development Fund Foundation, CPF Trading Co, the Crown Property Bureau, the National Office of Buddhism, Nongpho Dairy Co-operative, the Office of the Basic Education Commission, the Romchatra Foundation, Satree Wittaya School II and the Thai Life Assurance Association.

New LG 3D TV has 72-inch screen
LG Electronics (Thailand) Co has unveiled the world’s largest full LED 3D Smart TV, the LG cinema 3D smart TV model LM9500, featuring a 72-inch screen and full LED 3D technology, which delivers flawless, life-like images. Its Smart TV feature also offers seamless Internet access, and comes with LG’s Magic Remote Control, which can be used in a similar way to a wireless computer mouse.
As the world’s first brand to develop cinema three-dimensional TV technology, LG is offering the world’s largest full LED screen, at 72 inches. The LM9500 delivers crisp, bright and realistic images through a combination of an innovative full LED panel (back-lit by light-emitting diodes) and a smart dynamic enhancer – the Triple XD Engine – which offers good colour reproduction.
It is also equipped with micro pixel control technology to enhance image quality, and is eco-friendly, the company says. Issues with low-resolution content are handled with LG’s Resolution Upscaler Plus feature, which adjusts low-resolution content to match the screen, resulting in better image quality. The LM9500 is available at Bt299,990.
New runway planned for Suvarnabhumi

Airports of Thailand plans to invest Bt13 billion in the construction of a third runway at Suvarnabhumi Airport.
The runway, which is part of the second-phase expansion project of Bangkok’s main international airport, will be completed by 2016 and will help handle air traffic. The expansion will increase the capacity of Suvarnabhumi Airport to serve about 88 flights per hour, up from 76 flights today.
The third runway will be at the west side of the airport, which is about 400 metres from the east side, and will be about 4,000 metres in length. – The Nation