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Fish farmers are being encouraged to penetrate Myanmar
Thai Trade Representative Olarn Chaipravat will lead a delegation of fisheries businesses to Myanmar from July 31-August 2.
Pranee Siriphand, director-general of the Foreign Trade Department, said yesterday that Myanmar is considered as having great potential with its abundant natural resources, huge population and labour pool, and substantial market size. The country also enjoys tariff privileges in exporting to other countries.
Many Thai fisheries and related businesses such as cold storage and processing plants should expand to this country.
During the mission, the department will hold the Thailand-Myanmar Business Forum and Matching to promote close cooperation between Myanmar and Thai enterprises.
Laos posts trade surplus with Vietnam
Land-locked Laos posted a slight trade surplus with neighbouring Vietnam of US$23 million during the first five months of this year, media reports said yesterday.
Two-way trade was up 5.6 per cent year-on-year to 3.4trillion kip (433.8 million dollars), foreign trade policy department deputy director Gen Phanh Vilaysom said.
“Exports to Vietnam were about 1.8 trillion kip,” Phanh was quoted as saying by the Vientiane Times.
“The imports from Vietnam were around 1.6 trillion kip.”
Lao exports to Vietnam were led by wood and agricultural products, while the main imports from Vietnam were petrol, steel, vehicles and spare parts, machinery, coal, electric cabling, fruit and vegetables.
Last year, Laos’ exports to Vietnam amounted to 3.5 trillion kip, while imports from Vietnam were about 3.3 trillion kip.
Laos and Vietnam are two of the world’s few remaining communist regimes, whose leaders have enjoyed close ties since the Vietnam War years when they joined forces against the US military. – DPA
PTT chief stays out of spotlight, as favourite TV show goes black
What happened to Pailin Chuchottaworn, president and chief executive officer of PTT? Why has he been absent from the news scene in the past two weeks or, to be precise, since he returned from a trip to Australia?
During that two-week period, PTT chief financial officer Surong Bulakul announced the plan to delay bond issuance, while director Prasert Bunsumpun unveiled the company’s investment plan for the next five years.
Well, Pailin is now in a hot seat, after an investigation into whether he violated the rules and regulations governing state enterprises by serving as an independent director of Fraser and Neave.
During the trip to Australia, Pailin was tight-lipped on this issue. After giving interviews on the company’s operations, he abruptly told reporters that it was time for leisure.
“Let’s talk about entertainment,” he told them.
Pailin was happy when a reporter asked about Channel 3’s hit series “Juthathep Gentlemen”, which stopped airing two weeks ago.
“I’ve never missed an episode even [when] I was abroad, thanks to YouTube,” he said.
It was then that all knew he was a big fan of the series, which ran for five straight months. Pailin said the series was unlike other drama series, especially the production. He was pleased that he was not the only one with that perception, as the series was a big hit.
The only disappointment lay with the fact that his caddies didn’t think so.
“They don’t know what ‘Juthathep’ is because they only watch Channel 7. I forgot upcountry people are audiences of Channel 7 series,” he said.
Too bad that the series ended. It remains unknown how he relieves his stress now.
TrueVisions scores with Man U
It was a surprise that GMM Z lost its bid for MUTV Channel to TrueVisions.
Right after winning a three-year exclusive deal, the latter started to air Manchester United programmes with big success. The deal started at a time when major soccer clubs including Man U conducted pre-season tours to Thailand.
TrueVisions Group managing director Anat Mekpaiboonvatana must be happy. He said earlier that his company wanted to spoil all 20 million of the Red Devils in the country with live broadcasts, atmosphere and behind-the-scenes sneak peeks of their beloved soccer club.
Will GMM Z be sad?
Fahmai Damrongchaitham, chief operating officer for the platform business of GMM Z – a son of Paiboon “Ar Goo” – did not say so. At a recent press conference, he said the satellite TV company, which was a former MUTV official broadcaster, observed low audience ratings of this soccer channel. That explained why the company decided not to resume the contract.
“To be honest, MUTV is nice-to-have content, not killer content,” Fahmai stressed.
Our source in the industry said the cost of TrueVisions’ deal was almost double that of GMM Z’s. Well, Man U must be the happiest party in this regard.
Timely reshuffle at Pruksa
Pruksa Real Estate announced a big executive reshuffle recently and it was a big surprise that Prasert Taedullayasatit, who once oversaw all business segments, is now tasked to oversee only condominium business.
After so many years, Prasert is no longer the right-hand man of chief executive Thongma Vijitpongpun? This came as a surprise to property reporters who have followed Pruksa Real Estate for more than 10 years.
Probably, Thongma made this move to thank Prasert, as the reshuffle came at a time when competition in the property market is set to boil. It may be time for him to unwind.
Meanwhile, Thongma’s new right-hand man is Lursuk Chuladesa, former director-general of Government Savings Bank. He will be hard-pressed to prove himself, driving business growth to the targeted average of 25 per cent a year and to Bt100 billion by 2017.
Tee Land ventures into boutique industrial estates in Thailand
Property developer Tee Land is venturing into the development and operation of boutique industrial estates in Thailand, the Singapore-listed company said yesterday.
Tee Land subsidiary Tee Ventures has signed a memorandum of understanding with Thai businessman Supachai Suthipongschai to develop, build and operate a series of boutique industrial estates jointly, Tee Land said.
Supachai is the managing director of Western Property Group, which has diversified interests in property development and electrical-appliance manufacturing.
He is also the chairman of Sharp Thai Co, which makes and distributes Sharp household appliances in Thailand. – The Straits Times/ANN
Alstom Grid supplies Egat
France-based Alstom Grid will support national energy projects in Thailand and Laos with the supply of three-phase shunt reactors for the Hongsa Lignite Thermal Power Plant.
The contract worth about Bt470 million was awarded by the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat).
Shunt reactors are used to increase grid stability and maintain an economically acceptable level of insulation on networks with long transmission lines between power plants and consumption areas, especially if these lines are low-loaded or buried.
Hongsa will be the highest-capacity power plant in Laos at 1.88 gigawatts. Upon completion in 2016, it will deliver electricity across Laos and Thailand. The project will be an important energy source for both countries for more than 25 years.
