Economy and commerce
Trade
Laos eyes more rice sales to China
Laos’ Savannkhet province is looking to increase rice exports to China to more than 10,000 tons a year after the first order for 8,000 tons was received from the Chinese market this year. Laos on 10 December officially exported its first batch of rice to China from ...
Thailand falls out of auto top 10 in the world
Thailand has dropped from ninth place to 12th in the world ranking of automobile manufacturers as European production has recovered, according to a local industry executive. Thai vehicle exports, on the other hand, remained among the global top 10, said Surapong Paisitpattanapong, vice-president of the Federation of ...
First batch of Lao rice exported to China
Laos on 10 December officially exported its first batch of rice to China, marking the start of rice exportation to China. A ceremony on the event was held in Laos’ southern Savannakhet Province on 10 December. Addressing the ceremony, Lao Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Phet Phomphiphak said ...
Vietnam looking at $4 billion trade deficit in 2015
Vietnam could run up a US$4 billion trade deficit for the whole year after three consecutive years of a trade surplus, the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) said. The trade deficit would account for 2.4 per cent of total exports, much lower than the set ...
ASEAN sets up EU-style free-flow market
The ASEAN Community was officially declared on 8 December by leaders of the 10 member states of ASEAN in a landmark moment promising greater regional integration for the 48-year-old group. The challenge of this association of nations, marked by diversity, can be seen in the words of ...
Thailand leads declines in Asian stocks, Europe opens lower
Most Southeast Asian stock markets traded lower on 8 December, with the Stock Exchange of Thailand posting its biggest one-day decline in two weeks on falling oil prices. The SET index posted the steepest fall in the region with a 1.6% drop, led by oil firm ...
Opium poppy farmers seek help to end dependence
It is harvest time in the shadow of mist-covered mountains in southern Shan State – not for the rice or pulses growing elsewhere, but in the fields that will supply heroin to voracious markets, in Myanmar and across international borders. Down in the valleys and on ...
Cheapest Thai fragrant rice for six years
The global price of Hom Mali fragrant rice has dropped to the lowest in six years as growers sell their grain direct to millers-cum-exporters instead of joining a state-run bank’s scheme to increase rice prices. Keep reading ...
Vietnam coffee industry in trouble as prices plunge
Despite efforts to reduce costs and increase yields, Vietnam’s coffee exports have faced a difficult year, delegates heard at a seminar in Ho Chi Minh City on 2 December. “The international coffee market has seen unexpected trends and seriously impacted Vietnamese exports,” Deputy Minister of Agriculture ...
Companies begin to feel the heat as import costs climb
Myanmar’s plummeting currency has prompted a vicious circle of rising prices in the import-dependent economy, in which even export-driven companies face rising costs, say businesspeople. New laws and regulations are urgently needed to control the kyat, they said, which has fallen by more than 25 percent ...
