Depa designs special e-tournament to spark creativity among Thai youngsters
MONDAY, JANUARY 09, 2023
Nongluck Ajanapanya
The Digital Economy Promotion Agency (depa) is hosting a special e-sports event to mark National Children’s Day as well as spark creativity among Gen Z.
The “National Children’s Esports Day” will take place on January 14. Thailand marks Children’s Day on the second Saturday of January every year.
Nuttapon Nimmanphatcharin, depa president and CEO, told the press on Monday that the goal of this event is to encourage creative and innovative use of digital content.
Depa also hopes the event will help carve a new career path for Thai youth, while also raising awareness of the role the gaming industry plays in the economy and society.
“We support the use of games for creative purposes as well as providing opportunities now and in the future for Thai children and youth,” Nuttapon said.
The e-sports tournament, featuring the stealth game Chambara and a digital version of badminton, will be held at Government House’s Santimaitree Building.
The Chambara game is for children aged between five and 10, while badminton will be for 11 to 15-year-olds. The games are available through Nintendo Switch Sports.
Both competitions will be divided into boys and girls categories and the number of participants per category will be limited to 16. The top 12 winners will receive scholarships and awards worth more than 50,000 baht, divided into 4,000 baht for the first-prize winners and prizes worth 2,000 baht and 1,000 baht for the runners-up. The prizes will be presented personally by the prime minister.
Apart from the e-tournament, depa will also host other fun activities for children on the day.
Thai beauty queen says no bias from new owner of Miss Universe
MONDAY, JANUARY 09, 2023
Thailand’s Miss Universe 2022 contestant has denied claims that new Thai ownership of the beauty-pageant brand would give her an unfair advantage in the competition.
Anna Sueangam-iam, 24, rejected the allegations during an interview in the US with pageant analyst Brian Javier on Sunday.
Anna is currently competing in New Orleans, where the 71st Miss Universe 2022 pageant will be held on Sunday, January 15.
Asked about her path to beauty-queen fame, Anna said she had dreamed of becoming Miss Universe since childhood.
She hoped that her journey would inspire others, especially children.
“I joined Miss Universe because I want students to know that no matter who you are born [to], who you are, you can have success in your life if you believe in yourself,” she said.
Anna explained to Javier that she had been dubbed “Miss Garbage” after growing up amid piles of rubbish as the child of Bangkok trash collectors.
But rather than taking the name as an insult, she said it was an inspiration as it proved that anyone can achieve success in life no matter how humble their beginnings are.
Asked to name the most difficult challenge she had faced so far in the Miss Universe contest, Anna said maintaining a positive mindset amid the pressure from Thai fans and others.
“In the morning, I tell myself every day, you can do it, you can do it,” she said, adding that she reminds herself not to look at comments or compare herself with other contestants but to believe in herself.
Asked about her first four days of Miss Universe 2022 activities, Anna said she had enjoyed her fashion shoot wearing Muba Cosmetics while also learning about the unique culture of New Orleans.
Javier then threw in a tough question, asking Anna whether the new Thai ownership of Miss Universe gave her an unfair advantage in the contest, as critics have claimed.
The Thai beauty queen dismissed the idea that judges would be biased towards her, saying that the new owner favouritism in the judging, saying that the new owner, JKN Global Group CEO Jakkaphong “Anne” Jakrajutatip was a fair person.
“I will work hard and I believe in my power,” she said.
JKN acquired Miss Universe on October 25 for 800 million baht and announced plans for at least 40% growth for the brand as part of its drive to become a big player in the global content industry.
Trawler sinks in Gulf of Thailand sparking navigation warning
MONDAY, JANUARY 09, 2023
The Marine Department has warned that a fishing trawler that sank in the Gulf of Thailand on Saturday night presents a navigation hazard to other boats in the area.
The Por Thepranee 1 sank 18.23 nautical miles (33.76 kilometres) off the coast of Pak Phanang district, Nakhon Si Thammarat province, in stormy weather at around 8.30pm. All five crew onboard were rescued and brought safely ashore by marine police.
The trawler was overwhelmed by strong winds and high waves, prompting the Marine Dept to warn other boats to follow the latest weather updates, proceed with extra caution in the stormy weather, and consider staying ashore until conditions improve.
The department also ordered its Nakhon Si Thammarat office to salvage the wreckage as soon as possible as it present as it presents a navigation hazard to other vessels. The office is investigating the cause of the sinking.
On Sunday, the Thai Meteorological Department forecast that the strong northeast monsoon over the Gulf and the South will weaken from Monday to Saturday, while a low-pressure cell over the lower South China Sea will approach mainland Southeast Asia. These conditions will cause isolated heavy rain in the South, while waves in the Gulf will rise to 2-3 metres and higher in thundershowers.
US snack rankings reveal Americans’ growing hunger for Thai flavours
MONDAY, JANUARY 09, 2023
Thailand’s food manufacturers have been urged to harness Americans’ growing hunger for Thai-flavour snacks.
Thai flavours ranked 6th among international cuisines that American consumers want to taste more of in snacks, according to the 2023 Food and Beverage Flavor Report.
Mexican flavours topped the US most-wanted list, which is published by California-based flavour and fragrance producer T Hasegawa USA. Next came Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Latino and Thai.
The ranking shows strong potential for Thai food manufacturers in the US market, said Thailand’s Department of International Trade Promotion (DITP) office in New York on Monday.
The survey of 2,000 respondents found that the snacks Americans want to see in Thai flavours are baked potato chips (39%) followed by tortilla chips (36%) and fried potato chips (34%) while the most popular Thai flavours are tom yum (sour & spicy soup) and larb (spicy meat salad with toasted ground rice).
“These flavours have been made popular by Thai street foods which are booming in the US,” explained Ketsuree Vijaranakorn, head of the DITP’s New York office.
“Food manufacturers should use this popularity to penetrate the American snack market, which is craving spicy and exotic alternatives.”
The DITP reported that snacks are the fastest growing market in the US food & beverage sector, growing 11.4% to $44.9 billion (1.5 trillion baht) in the last 10 months of 2022.
Crunchy and salty snacks (chips, pretzels, and popcorns) dominated the market with a 59.3% share, followed by cookies (18.6%) and crackers (15.3%).
Ketsuree said the DITP will continue holding promotional events in the US to promote Thai foods, beverages and snacks, including at the Winter Fancy Food fair in Las Vegas from January 15-17, and the Summer Fancy Food Show in New York from June 12-14.
Manufacturers and exporters can reach the department at www.ditp.go.th or its 1169 hotline.
Thai exports staring at grim prospects in 2023 global economic scenario
MONDAY, JANUARY 09, 2023
Business councils and bankers are predicting a slowdown in growth or even a contraction for Thailand’s exports this year because of the global economic slump and continued geopolitical conflicts.
The grim picture for Thai exports was forecast by the Thai National Shippers’ Council (TNSC), the Thai Chamber of Commerce, and bankers from CIMB Thai Bank, TMBThanachart Bank (TTB) and Krungthai Compass.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, when tourism came to a standstill, exports were the main saviour of Thailand’s economy, with continued growth from 2020 until the third quarter of 2022.
However, signs of a slowdown became visible in October last year when exports contracted 4.4% year on year while the contraction widened to 6% in November.
TNSC chief Chaicharn Charoensuk said export data for December has not been announced yet but the TNSC expected it to be negative because of the impact from the global economic slump.
Chaicharn said the TNSC expected Thai export growth this year to slow slow down to 1-3% because of several factors:
● High inflation rates would prompt the US Federal Reserve and central banks of major economies to use austere financial measures that would cause their economies to slow down, affecting Thai exports.
● The Covid-19 situation in China has not improved and the Chinese government may be prompted to use restrictive measures, which would affect supply chains of Thai exporters, and cause economic slowdown in China, unavoidably affecting Thai exporters.
● Although the Russia-Ukraine war would benefit Thai exporters of foods, it would raise costs for exporters of other products when global oil prices rise.
● The baht has appreciated against the US dollar and its value increased from 38 baht per dollar two months ago to about 33-34 baht. This would cause Thai products to become less competitive.
The TNSC expects Thailand to export goods worth US$49 billion to the United States, while exports to China would be worth US$36.5 billion and US$49 billion to Europe this year.
Chaicharn said the TNSC wants Thai exporters to look for new markets to offset the decline in demand in some markets.
He said the key alternative markets for Thai exporters are:
Middle East: The TNSC sees Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar as capable of becoming important alternative markets for Thai exporters. Key export products to these markets could be rice and foods.
South Asia: Thai exporters can seek to export jewellery, accessories, plastic pellets and chemical products to India, Bangladesh and Nepal.
CLMV: Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam could be important alternative markets for Thai exporters with construction materials, electric appliances, plastic pellets, textiles and clothes, sugar, and machines and parts among key products.
Wisit LImluacha, deputy chairman of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber expected export growth of 6% last year but only 2% this year.
He said the economic slowdown in some of Thailand’s major markets, especially the United States, Europe and China, would result in slowdown for exports.
The global economic slowdown, the high inflation rate and the sluggish performance of the manufacturing sector in Thailand’s main markets would remain risk factors this year, he added.
Amornthep Chawala, vice president of CIMB Thai, said the research office of his bank expected exports to suffer 1% negative growth this year. He said the prediction was based on the export situation in the last quarter of last year.
Amornthep said the negative growth could be more severe than one per cent if China faced economic sanctions from the US.
He said the reopening of China would benefit Thailand’s exports in the short term but the situation would reverse if China itself cannot export to the US.
“So, we estimate that the negative growth may be more than 1%. We have to wait and see the export data for two months before we can be sure,” Amornthep said.
He said the government should find new markets for Thai exporters and should ink more free trade agreements with other countries or groups.
Narit Sathapoldecha, head of the TTB Analytics centre, said his bank expected Thailand’s exports to grow at or lesser than 1.6% this year.
He said the main risk factor for Thai exporters is China itself. He said China’s economy could slow down because of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and Beijing could try to offset the situation by expanding its own exports, which could be at the cost of Thailand’s exports.
Narit explained that China might dump its products in the global markets and make it more difficult for Thai exporters to sell their products.
Pacharapoj Nantramas, vice president of Krungthai Compass, a research arm of Krung Thai Bank, said his bank foresaw export growth this year at 1.2% or lower.
The grim prediction was based on negative growth during the past several months, he added.
Thailand’s Consumer Confidence Index rebounds to pre-Covid level
MONDAY, JANUARY 09, 2023
December saw the Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) rise into the confidence zone for the first time since before the Covid-19 outbreak, the Trade Policy and Strategy Office (TPSO) reported on Sunday.
The CCI rose to 50.4 last month from 49.9 points in November, entering the confidence zone (50-100 points) for the first time in 43 months since May 2019.
Driving the improvement were overall economic recovery, rising domestic consumption, and the influx of foreign tourists at year-end, which prompted businesses to expand and hire more staff.
The CCI survey uses data from 6,600 samples in seven occupations across Thailand.
The TPSO also reported that Thailand’s Construction Materials Price Index (CMPI) jumped 5.7% in 2022 and is expected to remain around the same level this year.
The price of construction materials rose on the soaring cost of fuel and steel due to the Russia-Ukraine war, the TPSO said. Other factors driving up the index were manufacturers reducing output, rising minimum wages, increasing electricity costs, the weakening baht, and floods in the second half of the year, said TPSO director Poonpong Naiyanapakorn.
December’s index dropped 0.2% from the previous month, reflecting the falling steel price and promotions for sanitaryware, but it was still 3.6% higher than a year earlier.
The TPSO forecast the CMPI this year will be in the same range as 2022, as Thailand’s recovering economy and public and private investment projects trigger high demand for steel and fuel. Also driving up manufacturing costs will be the higher electricity costs and continual rises in the minimum wage and interest rate.
Factors that could dampen the CMPI in 2023 are the threat of another Covid-19 situation in China and the threat of another lockdown, and the end of government measures to boost the real estate sector that will result in declining property sales, the TPSO said.
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