CLMV, BRICS in DHL's sights
Company continues global expansion of network
DHL Express Thailand will focus more on two of the world’s fastest-growing trade lanes of emerging markets – CLMV and BRICS – bracing for signs of turnaround amid slower pace of recovery in the global economy.
CLMV represents Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam while the BRICS economic group comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.
“CLMV is seeing rapid trading growth while BRICS is a key value trading partner for Thailand,” Chananyarak Petcharat, managing director of DHL Express Thailand and Indochina, said recently.
She said that DHL’s express business, which normally relies on export and import, has been outgrowing the Thai market despite the recent crisis thanks mainly to the endeavour and continuity of DHL’s network expansion on a global scale by means of mergers and acquisitions and organic growth.
“We [DHL express business] can outperform the rate of global economic growth and we do not project any negative growth for our business this year,” she said.
Meanwhile, the growth forecast for the Thai and global economy this year is 1.9 per cent and 2.5 per cent, respectively, according to Thailand Development Research Institute.
As a result of the country’s political crisis earlier this year, export and import growth in the first seven months (January-July) has seen a drop of 0.4 per cent and 12.9 per cent, respectively. Thailand, in the firs half of this year, also experienced a 0.1 per cent economic contraction.
On the global scale, DHL has spent US$177 million on infrastructure investment in five new facilities in the Middle East and North Africa, where DHL has boosted its market. In Tokyo, the group has invested ¤67 million in gateway facilities, which will be opened in 2016 and 10 million ringgit in an express facility in Penang, Malaysia.
Regard business expansion in Thailand, Chananyarak said that DHL, which has been operating in the country for 41 years, has continued to invest in facilities. Currently, it has 56 service points, 10 service centres, 187 vehicles, one hub and gateway, and three dedicated aircraft that operate 27 weekly network flights for more than 40,000 active customers with new accounts every day.
As for next year, she said there were opportunities with the Thai fiscal 2015 budget focusing on infrastructure and transport linkage improvement, which could make Thailand a platform for regional economic and trading integration.
However, there were some risks for Thailand such as a loss of tax benefits from the European Union’s generalised system of preferences and increase in value-added tax to 10 per cent, she said.
The urgent plan the government should proceed with is accelerating foreign direct investments and tax-restructuring plan, she said, adding she wanted see private companies that have a production base in Thailand take part in the country’s economic reform.
