Top 5 Business Ideas from Thailand

Located in the Southeast Asian Indochinese peninsula, the Kingdom of Thailand shipped US$245.3 billion worth of goods around the globe in 2019. That dollar amount reflects a 16.4% gain since 2015 but a -1.8% decline from 2018 to 2019.

The recent COVID19 pandemic has affected the economy and the mainstream popularity of Thailand as a tourist destination made us aware of their popular products in beauty and cosmetics, decorative pieces, however in the larger perspective of country’s exports, we can observe that the country is preferred as source of raw materials necessary for production, kindly refer below:

1. Machinery including computers: US$40.2 billion (16.4% of total exports)
2. Electrical machinery, equipment: $33.9 billion (13.8%)
3. Vehicles: $28.9 billion (11.8%)
4. Gems, precious metals: $15.7 billion (6.4%)
5. Rubber, rubber articles: $15.3 billion (6.3%)
6. Plastics, plastic articles: $13.3 billion (5.4%)
7. Mineral fuels including oil: $8.5 billion (3.5%)
8. Meat/seafood preparations: $6.7 billion (2.7%)
9. Optical, technical, medical apparatus: $5.4 billion (2.2%)
10. Organic chemicals: $4.6 billion (1.9%)

Gems and precious metals represent the top grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 31.5% since 2018 and propelled largely by stronger global sales of Thailand’s gold. The only other top category posting improved export revenues was meat or seafood preparations thanks to its 1.4% increase.

Based from this data, it will be strategic to come up with business import ideas that involves:

1. Rice
2. Organic products
3. Seafood
4. Beauty machines or products
5. Gems or precious metals

As we still pursue economic recovery, most households are looking into saleable products online like basic necessities such as food, and those that have strong commercial appeal, or products that need no further introduction in the market. Beauty and cosmetics may seem challenging but Thailand has been very popular due to celebrity endorsements, its affordability also makes it convincing either for personal or business use.

Updates: COVID19

Thailand kicked off its COVID-19 inoculation campaign on Sunday (Feb 28), with ministers, health officials and medical professionals among the first in the queue to receive vaccinations.
CoronaVac has been distributed to 13 high-risk provinces, which will start injecting front-line health professionals and volunteers on Sunday, the health ministry has said. AstraZeneca's vaccine will be ready for use by the second week of March. Thailand is expected to take delivery of a further 1.8 million doses of CoronaVac in March and April.

Political Climate:

On the protests, veteran investor Mark Mobius told CNBC on Friday: “It is a serious situation, mainly because tourism is so important for Thailand.” The state of emergency will increase political uncertainty — and as it’s happening during the pandemic — it will prove to be a “double whammy” to growth this year and in the medium term, Mizuho’s Venkateswaran said.

We also spoke with Ms. Bing who works in a shipping line company based in Thailand and it’s business as usual as imports and exports remain an important economic activity of the country. The schedules are scheduled regularly and have been picking up. Alvin, a Filipino who’s working and residing now in Thailand, said that the main focus now is to address COVID19 vaccination.
Just like in any other country, politics plays an important role in boosting the economy and other matters raised by opposition parties are being discussed internally.

In summary, Thailand is very accessible and importing materials or products can be a good opportunity. Ernest Logistics Corporation is launching LCL sea freight service on a regular basis, you can get more information by registering or logging-in below and our customer representative will be quick to assist you.

Source:
http://www.worldstopexports.com/thailands-top-10-imports/
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/thailand-starts-covid-19-vaccination-campaign-14299976
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/16/thailand-protests-impact-on-economy-already-hit-by-covid-19-pandemic.html