“However, exports could expand in the long term after the government turns to focusing on 10 high-tech sophisticated industries, which will add value to exports,” Malee Choklumlerd, director-general of the International Trade Department, said yesterday. Thailand needs to face small export growth or even a decline in the short term since the country no longer focuses on labour-intensive industries and is encouraging some industries to relocate to neighbouring countries.

The 10 “S-curve industries” are next-generation automobiles, smart electronics, affluent medical and wellness tourism, agriculture and biotechnology, food for the future, robotics, aviation and logistics, biofuels and biochemicals, and establishing digital and medical hubs.

The industries with local and foreign investors already moving abroad, mainly to neighbouring countries, are textiles and garments, agro-industry, electronics, and hospitality and medical services.

After the promotion of the S-curve industries, exports should grow more strongly in the future, as those industries will create value-added products. In cooperation with the Japan External Trade Organisation, the department has adopted Jetro’s information on 50 focus cities for drawing up export-promotion plans.

The department has translated Jetro’s information on penetrating each city of interest worldwide so that it will understand more about market demand, consumer behaviour and lifestyles.

The department has started with the CLMV (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam) markets.

The other new export-targeted destinations will be categorised by strong expansion of gross domestic product and increasing purchasing power for various products and services.

The focus markets include Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Wuhan, Shenyang and Xian in China; Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata in India; Pakistan’s Karachi and Lahore; Indonesia’s Jakarta; the Philippines’ Manila and Russia’s Moscow among many others.

The ministry will also assign the International Trade Promotion Department to conduct a study of some markets, especially on their consumer behaviour, incomes and the number of tourists and tourist attractions.

Armed with that information, Thai exporters and Thailand’s export promotion team can draw up a strategy to promote exports via the right channels, she added.

Many Thai SMEs still lack marketing talent and skills in exploring their businesses at the regional and global level.

Malaysia is a good example. It rolled out an “SME Blueprint” initiative, which allowed the country to raise SMEs’ contribution to gross domestic product from 38 per cent 10 years ago to about 50 per cent today. In the same 10-year period, Thailand only increased SMEs’ contribution to GDP from 37 per cent to 40 per cent.

“Most Thai SMEs are afraid to explore new business opportunities, especially in overseas markets. They still have the same mindset of traditional farmers, who just wait for rain,” Kiatanantha said.

“The government is still short of specific measures designed to upgrade the talents and professional skills of Thai SMEs.

“Many SMEs that are outside the system can’t access funds and other kinds of support from the government’s stimulus campaign,” he said.

The government’s strategic plan to promote local start-ups is quite broad. It should specifically select only 1,000 start-ups with outstanding business

ideas, and promote them as new business models so that they can be followed by other start-ups.

However, it will take at least 10 years for start-ups to grow strong enough to expand by themselves.

According to a survey his faculty conducted on SMEs, one-third of the respondents performed better in the second quarter of this year than in the first quarter.

About 70 per cent of those improved results came from their ability to reduce costs, and 30 per cent from higher revenue.

The survey was conducted from June 15 to July 4 on 427 SMEs, with 40 per cent of them located in Bangkok and the rest in all other regions of the country.

Of the samples, only 70 have ever sold their products abroad.

According to the survey posted in the second quarter of this year, 12.7 per cent of the SMEs surveyed said their revenues were higher than expected.

About 27.2 per cent said revenue was about the same, 45.2 per cent said lower and 14.9 per cent said their revenues were uncertain.

However, when asked about the economy in the second quarter compared with the first, only 0.75 per cent said it performed much better, 12.3 per cent said better, 41.3 per cent said about the same, 39.8 per cent said worse and 5.8 per cent said much worse.

The five negative factors affecting SMEs’ performance in the first six months were insufficient demand in the market, the condition of the economy, shortage of raw materials, higher costs of production and more severe competition.

“From our survey, we found that 40 per cent of SMEs that recorded better business performance were those that were able to adjust to the changing economy and marketing landscape.

“About 60 per cent are benefiting from the government’s measures to stimulate SMEs and the economy,” Kiatanantha said.

During the third public hearing on the BRT project’s environmental impact assessment held in Bangkok yesterday, Wijit Nimitrwanich, a transport technical adviser from the OTP, presented the final report on the BRT project to about 200 participants from the private and public sectors.

The 10-kilometre BRT route providing public transport to the hub covers 16 stations, beginning at Bang Sue Central Railway Station, crossing a group of railroad tracks with an elevated road at Kamphaeng Phet Sixth Road before passing several streets and turning to where it began in the project’s compound.

The BRT route is two-way except for the lanes surrounding Bang Sue Central Railway Station, which will be one-way. Each BRT lane will be separated from private-car lanes.

However, the BRT’s operation that was proposed by the OTP was based on Mo Chit 2 Bus Terminal, which occupies 16 rai , moving out of the project area.

With the project’s design, there would be only the sub-terminal left provided with minibuses from Bangkok to any destination no more than 300km outside Bangkok.

The BRT will have a Bt1.8-billion maintenance depot on 7 rai.

The appropriate investment model will depend on the State Enterprise Policy Office, but the private sector seems to be interested only in operating the BRT.

The OTP also presented the final report on the East-West Skywalk project linking Bang Sue Central Railway Station to the Skytrain Mo Chit Station and the MRT subway’s Chatuchak Station. It would be 1.27km long and 6 metres wide.

There would be a North-South ground walkway project designed to link Kamphaeng Phet Road to the bus sub-terminal. This would come with a car lane along with the edge of the commercial zone or “Zone D”, covering a combined 83 rai of land.

Zone D was supposed to be developed into commercial areas of about a million square metres and expected to draw in investment of Bt20 billion from the private sector.

Arkhom said Thailand was waiting for an interim report on the project’s feasibility study undertaken by Japan. The report was to be submitted on June 30.

The minister was reporting to the Cabinet yesterday on progress made in the country’s railway system development plan focusing on high-speed trains, metro lines and an intercity dual-track railway network.

Apart from the Thai-Japanese project, Arkhom said the Thai-Chinese railway project was being considered by the Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning and expected to commence construction this quarter. The project will start with building the first phase of the 250km Bangkok-Kaeng Khoi route with an investment of between Bt170 billion and Bt190 billion.

Meanwhile, the high-speed railway project for the 193km Bangkok-Rayong and 165km Bangkok-Hua Hin routes will be put forward for the Public Private Partnership Committee’s consideration in the last quarter of this year. The Bankok-Rayong railway project is expected to cost Bt153.53 billion, while the Bankok-Hua Hin requires Bt224.42 billion.

For the first phase of the dual-track intercity railway with 1-metre gauge, one of the five projects is already under construction, while one is ready for bidding, one is waiting for approval from the Cabinet and two are awaiting comments from related agencies.

The five projects will cover 797km in total worth Bt115.78 billion. There are be seven more routes 1,620km in length which will be upgraded to become dual-track railways in the second phase and will gradually be open for service from 2019.

For the 10 metro lines, Arkhom said there were now five projects 134km in length worth Bt396 billion under consideration. Of these, the Pink, Yellow and Orange were being put up for bidding, while the other two, Red and Dark Red lines will soon be proposed for Cabinet consideration.