Thai firm plans Bt5 bn distribution centre 

Adul Chotinisakorn, deputy director-general at the Foreign Trade Department, said the department would soon sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the private company. 
The aim of the centre is to help young entrepreneurs under the Young Entrepreneur Network Development (Yen-D) programme. The Yen-D programme involves about 560 small and medium-sized businesses.
The distribution centre will cover 150 rai (240,000 square metres) of land in Pathum Thani province, which is near the Don Mueang International Airport. The centre will be a one-stop service for traders to shop and ship goods from Thailand to other countries easily.
Adul said construction had already started and the project was expected to be complete in the first quarter of 2018.
The Commerce Ministry has targeted cross-border trade growth of 4.9 per cent this year to Bt1.47 trillion, lower than the previously set target of Bt1.7 trillion.
In the first eight months, cross-border trade was valued at Bt940 billion, an increase of 2.65 per cent from the same period last year.
To promote cross-border trade, the department has also set up a strategy to drive cross-border trade by encouraging Thai private enterprises to set up distribution centres and warehouses along cross-border provinces.
The ministry has set up a strategy to encourage Thai enterprises to penetrate each neighbouring country by setting up a distribution centre in target markets. For instance, the department recently supported Thai enterprises to cooperate with City Square Department in Tongyi, Shan State of Myanmar, to set up a distribution centre for Thai products.
The centre will help distribute Thai goods in Myanmar’s Shan State and its nearby areas.
Adul said the Yen-D members have also considered setting up a Thailand distribution centre in Phnom Penh, to be a centre for selling Thai products in the market.
In the latest meeting of the cross-border trading committee, the panel also considered the private sector’s requirements for allowing trucks from neighbouring countries to enter warehouses located in Thailand’s special economic zones so that it will help reduce logistics difficulties.
Previously, trucks from neighbouring countries needed to change to local trucks after they entered Thailand’s territory to travel for more than five kilometres.