Trade policy and regulation

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha last week asked reporters why non-governmental organisations, environmental activists and academics continue to protest against the planned blasting of rapids in the Mekong River. He said many of these protesters are outsiders, meaning people who do not live by the riverside, do ...

On December 12 the Thai-owned Fraser and Neave completed the purchase of 5.4 per cent of the Vietnamese dairy giant Vinamilk for almost $500 million. Each of F&N’s subsidiaries – F&N Bev Manufacturing and F&N Dairy Investments – bought 2.7 per cent at the starting price ...

Vietnamese like to get together and whenever they do there is beer on the table. This may explain the interest in the equitizations of the country’s two biggest beer producers. The Saigon Beer Alcohol and Beverage Corp. (Sabeco) in the south and the Hanoi Beer Alcohol ...

A colossal sugar mill in Preah Vihear province will roar to life again next week, promising to devour 1 million tonnes of sugarcane in a two-month production run that is expected to yield 100,000 tonnes of refined white sugar, as well as a sizeable chunk ...

A 70-kilometre section of Road No. 17B linking the Laos-Myanmar Friendship Bridge to Sing district town in Luang Namtha province remains unpaved after almost two years and is deteriorating. An official of the provincial Public Works and Transport Department Mr Chansamone Outamavong, told Vientiane Times ...

Siam Cement Group, Thailand’s largest conglomerate, is tapping into Cambodia’s booming construction sector and opening its third cement plant in Battambang province next year. Governor of Battambang province Chan Sophal told Khmer Times that SCG, a majority shareholder in Kampot Cement, started construction on the ...

Fukunari Kimura, a professor at Keio University and an expert in Asian trade, indicated in a Nikkei interview that the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, a proposed free trade agreement, should be a stronghold of free trade, since the Trans-Pacific Partnership has suffered a setback with ...

PTT Plc., the national oil and gas conglomerate, forecasts Thailand’s fuel consumption will increase by two to three percent this year, in line with the country’s economic growth. The outlook was trimmed from the previous forecast because demand is expected to slip after subsidy cuts, ...

Vietnam Steel Corporation (VnSteel) aims to earn a consolidated revenue of US$835.5 million in 2017, an increase of VNĐ800 billion from 2016. It will produce around 2.4 million tonnes of steel billets this year, up 17 per cent from 2016, VnSteel said. To accomplish these ...

Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak will be leading major Thai businesses to meet a team of Myanmar officials and businesses to seek further cooperation in developing industrial estates in Myanmar and border trade operations on Feb 3-4. Industry Minister Uttama Savanayana said the Thai business ...