Laos has temporarily banned the import of fresh and frozen seafood from Thailand after a new wave of Covid-19 infections erupted from Samut Sakhon’s seafood market.
Laos’s Industry and Commerce Ministry made the decision on Wednesday to prevent the spread of coronavirus in the country.
The new measure is temporary and will stay in effect until both countries can confirm the products are safe and coronavirus-free.
Laos has increased awareness of the Covid-19 situation in Thailand and prepared a host of quarantine sites since Tuesday.
The Thai currency is likely to move between 30.10 and 30.30 on Thursday, predicted Jitipol Puksamatanan, senior director of the chief investment office at SCB Securities.
On Wednesday night, financial markets fluctuated over the state of Brexit and after US President Donald Trump found fault with a fresh US stimulus package. However, the S&P and Stoxx 600 indexes rose by 0.07 and 0.98 per cent, respectively.
Meanwhile, there were 803,000 initial US jobless claims announced this week, better than some observers’ expectations. Also, durable goods orders increased by 0.9 per cent in November.
The US Ten-Year Treasury yield rose by 3 basis points to 0.95 per cent, while the dollar weakened by 0.4 per cent compared to other main currencies with high risk, such as the New Zealand and Australian dollars.
Jitipol said the baht has “almost not been affected” by the result of the Monetary Policy Committee meeting on Wednesday. However, Thailand’s Ten-Year Treasury yield was at 1.13 per cent, the lowest point since April, reflecting investors’ concern about a new wave of Covid-19 in the country, he added.
Air pollution in 14 areas around Bangkok and its vicinity once again hit dangerous levels on Thursday morning, with PM2.5 readings coming in at 34 to 57 micrograms per cubic metre (μg/m3), the Pollution Control Department reported.
Thailand’s standard for safe levels of PM2.5 (particles less than 2.5 micrometres in diameter) is 50 μg/m3.
A year-end review by Singapore-based Blackbox Research highlights 10 key trends that were fast-tracked by the pandemic and will define 2021 and beyond.
Across areas such as consumption, work, finance, society, and health, the review identifies a growing desire for ownership and control in these uncertain times.
Key trends include the decline of the public’s trust in institutions, new and diverse work dynamics, and the ineluctable digitalisation of financial services.
1. E-commerce exploded, but the experience falls short for new shoppers. Satisfaction levels were consistently low, calling e-commerce players to drastically improve user experiences.
2. Shopping is now “click-and-mortar”, as modern retail blurs the digital divide. Consumers are growing impervious to binary channel segmentations, making it less about where a purchase journey begins and more about what drives a purchasing decision.
3. “Work from home” will become “work from anywhere”. Working from home has become a key business continuity mechanism, redefining notions of workspace, collaboration, and productivity.
4. Full-time work and career progression – what do they mean anymore? The pandemic is shifting labour dynamics in major ways, and that technology-driven innovation will play a major role in the future of workplace dynamics.
5. Neo-banking is now on the horizon, not beyond it. The pandemic took fintech start-ups from the fringes of finance to mainstream name recognition.
6. The financial advisor gets the app treatment. The pandemic has accelerated the rise of digital platforms for everything from financial advice to retirement planning.
7. Health and well-being get up close and personal. The lockdowns are opening people’s eyes to health tech, driving them to spend more money on health-related products and services.
8. Global anxiety hits the roof thanks to creeping germaphobia. The pandemic has turned many people into anxious germophobes – leading to record-breaking sales of cleaning and disinfecting products, as well as transforming the way we greet, mingle, and interact with one another.
9. Many large institutions failed the litmus test for leadership. The pandemic revealed the limitations of many respected institutions, while people valued essential workers and frontline officials who dealt with the pandemic up-close.
10. Rise of the Asian resilience model in crisis management. Asia-Pacific nations applauded their country’s handling of the crisis, while disappointment and resentment grew in Europe and the Americas.
David Black, founder and CEO of Blackbox Research, highlights the growing need for people to take greater ownership and control of everything from consumption, work, and finance to health and governance.
“The data shows that there is a marked desire for a greater sense of agency in these difficult times. People have changed the way they look after their own health, approach personal finance, navigate workplace dynamics, or even relate to governments and institutions. This has accelerated a lot of the technology, innovation, and mindset changes that we were not expecting to converge until a few years from now.”
THREE TRENDS TO NOTE IN 2021
Society: Public distrust in institutions will continue if they fail to act
The pandemic revealed the limitations of many respected institutions, from the World Health Organisation (WHO) to national governments and Fortune 500 companies. Most notably, data from Blackbox Research shows that 31 per cent of people felt that the WHO performed below expectations, and 36 per cent expressed the same sentiment towards the United Nations.
The data also reveals that people valued essential workers and frontline officials who dealt with the pandemic up-close – suggesting that organisations can overcome the trust gap by walking the talk, breaking away from superficial messaging, and by taking swift, tangible action.
Work: ‘Work from home’ to become ‘work from anywhere’
The lockdown has turned working from home from an occasional perk to a key business continuity mechanism – pushing businesses to redefine their notions of workspace, collaboration, and productivity. Data from Blackbox Research found that nine in 10 workers are not rushing to resume office life, having fully adapted to working remotely.
Beyond discussions on the new Zoom economy and how future home design will give rise to workspace planning, the rise of flexible work arrangements will have wider repercussions. Indeed, employers now have the ability to hire well beyond the cities in which they operate, making remote locations much more attractive than big cities where talent, taxes, and real estate are infamously expensive.
Finance: Future of banking is not just digital, it’s ‘digital-only’
The pandemic has accelerated the rise of digital platforms for everything from financial advice to retirement planning – shaking up the advisory industry as a whole. Blackbox data reveals a 6 to 8 per cent growth in the use of digital financial services platforms, suggesting that people may be hedging against future crises by taking more control over their finances.
In the next few years, financial advisors will need to step up their game by offering tailored, user-friendly, and automated digital services that make them stand out in the new world of online advice.
“The pandemic’s most enduring impact will be its role as catalyst and accelerant,” says David Black. “As this year comes to a close, there is a sense of hope and opportunity – however tenuous – that comes with the dawning of 2021. It is up to us to figure out how we can build ourselves back up to not only survive, but thrive, in the new normal.”
“In order to emerge from the crisis stronger and more resilient, everyone – citizens, communities, businesses, and governments – needs to understand and anticipate the new dynamics that the pandemic has set in motion. We will explore this and other topics in our January webinar, which will cover what is to come for 2021 and how we can be prepared.”
A Cabinet meeting on December 22 acknowledged the progress in the plan to develop robotics and automation across a variety of key sectors presented by the Industry Ministry, government deputy spokeswoman Ratchada Thanadirek said on Wednesday.
“The plan had been proposed by the Industry Ministry in early 2018. In the past three years there has been approximately Bt167 billion of investment in robotics and automation in key industries including food manufacturing, electrical and electronics, automotive and petrochemicals,” she said.
“Up to 92 business operators have invested Bt13.98 billion in upgrading their manufacturing facilities to use robots and automation systems.
“The added progress includes the establishment of a Sustainable Manufacturing Centre in the Eastern Economic Corridor and the Centre of Robotics Excellence [CoRE], with the aim to expand cooperation in robotics and automation among 15 related agencies including the Thai-German Institute, the Electrical and Electronics Institute, Chulalongkorn University and Chiang Mai University,” Ratchada said.
“The ministry has also provided training to more than 2,000 system integrators in robotics and automation industries, 68 of whom have passed the CoRE certification test, 1,395 system engineers and 70 start-up companies, and has developed 185 prototype robots for industrial use,” she reported.
“The Industry Ministry has also drafted a regulation to exempt tax on imported parts and equipment for robotics and automation to promote related industries in Thailand,” she said.
In the progress report, the Industry Ministry also stipulated policies in driving robotics and automation forward with a focus on integrating the domestic supply chain of related industries, developing a specialised automation system for SMEs, and increasing the number of system integrators at the regional level.
“The ministry predicts that robotics and automation technology will witness increased usage in this Covid-19 situation as it can substitute human labour, especially in public health and service sectors,” she added.
TOT’s merger with CAT Telecom to become one entity called the National Telecom Public Company Limited, or NT Telecom, will be completed on January 7, while the mobile telephone and broadband Internet businesses of the two companies will also be combined into one brand, said Digital Economy and Society (DES) Minister Buddhipongse Punnakanta.
“We are planning to rebrand the businesses as either NT Mobile or NT Broadband, which will be officially launched on January 7 as well,” he said.
“TOT Mobile has more than 180,000 customers while CAT’s My has 2.5 million customers. When combined they will become a large telecom company. We expect this new company to compete with and eventually surpass the market’s third-biggest player, Total Access Communication [Dtac],” Buddhipongse said.
“The brand combination will not affect existing users. Whether you are using TOT or CAT sim cards, the system will automatically match the roaming services and let you continue using your mobile phone and mobile Internet with no interruptions,” he said.
“As for broadband service, TOT currently has 1.5 million users while CAT has about 300,000. We aim to bundle broadband packages with a mobile plan to attract new users,” Buddhipongse said.
“The combined assets of the two will be worth more than Bt300 billion, including over 25,000 telecom poles nationwide, nine international underwater cable systems, six mobile frequency bands, 4,000km of underground cables, 4 million core kilometres of optical fibre cables, 13 data centres and an international telephone system that is accessible from any number in the world,” he said.
“The DES will set policies for NT Telecom to undertake new projects with a focus on 5G and satellite technology,” he added. “You can expect to see some new services by NT Telecom around February-March next year.”
A 44-year-old female seafood vendor in Ang Thong’s Muang province has tested positive for Covid-19, Governor Khajornkiat Rakpanichmanee said on Wednesday.
“On December 20 the patient travelled to Samut Sakhon, which is a hotspot of new mass infections, in a personal vehicle with her husband.” he said. “She was tested on December 21 after she came back. The test was positive while the patient had shown no symptoms.”
The governor said public health officials have traced and tested six persons who came into close contact with the patient. Three of the tests have come back negative while the others are awaited.
“Officials have also closed down the market where her seafood stall is and undertook a thorough cleaning and disinfection,” he added. “The province will provide regular updates on the case. People can be sure there will be no withholding of information.”
More rain and isolated heavy showers are likely in the South, while a weakening high-pressure system covering upper Thailand will see a temperature rise of 1-3°C with morning fog, but mountaintops will remain cold to very cold with frost in some areas, the Meteorological Department said on Thursday.
The department advised people in the South to beware of severe conditions that may cause flash floods. With waves in the Gulf being 2-3 metres high and above 3 metres during thundershowers, it warned all ships to proceed with caution while small boats should stay ashore until December 26.
Here’s the weather forecast for the next 24 hours:
North: Cold to cool weather with light fog in the morning; temperature lows of 10-16 degrees and highs of 27-30 degrees Celsius. Temperature on hilltops is likely to drop to 2-10 degrees Celsius with frost in some areas.
Northeast: Cold to cool weather with light fog in the morning; temperature lows of 13-18 degrees and highs of 30-31 degrees Celsius. Temperature on hilltops is likely to drop to 6-14 degrees.
Central: Cool weather with light fog in the morning; temperature lows of 17-19 degrees, highs of 30-32 degrees Celsius.
East: Cool weather with light fog in the morning; temperature lows of 18-22 degrees, highs of 31-32 degrees Celsius; waves 1-2 metres high and 2 metres offshore.
South (east coast): Mostly cloudy with thundershowers in 60 per cent of the area and isolated heavy rain; temperature lows of 21-25 degrees, highs of 26-32 degrees Celsius; waves 2-3 metres high and over 3 metres during thundershowers.
South (west coast): Mostly cloudy with thundershowers in 40 per cent of the area and isolated heavy rain; temperature lows of 21-24 degrees, highs of 30-33 degrees Celsius; waves 1-2 metres high and 2 metres during thundershowers.
Bangkok and surrounding areas: Cool weather with light fog in the morning; temperature lows of 20-22 degrees, highs of 30-31 degrees Celsius.
The Commerce Ministry has instructed its provincial offices countrywide to check whether shops are breaking the law by selling overpriced face masks, said permanent secretary Boonyarit Kalayanamit.
The move follows a spike in demand for face masks following a new outbreak of Covid-19.
Commerce officials on Wednesday visited a total of 573 pharmacies, shops and convenience stores but found no violations. Masks there were being sold for Bt2.50 apiece, or Bt50-Bt125 per pack of 50 depending on brand and quality.
Officials also found no evidence of hoarding. However, some shops were running short of face mask supplies due to the rising demand.
Boonyarit said there was no need to panic-buy or hoard masks, adding that supplies in Samut Sakhon where the latest outbreak emerged were still sufficient despite a spike in demand.
Thailand has 30 surgical face-mask factories capable of producing a total of 5 million masks per day.
The Transport Ministry is planning to double the investment for the new Dark Red Railway Line and extend it to also cover Ayutthaya, a source from the ministry revealed.
The new Dark Red Line will run from Bang Sue to Rangsit in Pathum Thani in the first phase before being extended to cover Ayutthaya. The project is expected to cost Bt42.61 billion in total.
The Dark Red Line, part of the State Railway of Thailand (SRT)’s suburban railway extension, will initially cover 8.48 kilometres from Bang Sue to terminate at the Thammasat Rangsit campus. This will cost about Bt6.57 billion and is currently being analysed based on the 2019 Joint State-Private Investment Act.
SRT expects to procure private investment by the end of 2022, before it starts construction with the aim of opening for service by 2025.
“In the first year, the railway is expected to service some 28,150 commuters per day, and this will increase once the line is extended from Thammasat’s Rangsit campus to Phachi terminal in Ayutthaya. There will be four stations on this line, namely Khlong Nueng, Bangkok University, Chiang Rak and Thammasat University’s Rangsit campus,” the source said.
The Dark Red Line will be further extended to cover two routes, Ayutthaya-Phachi and Thammasat Rangsit-Ayutthaya.
The Ayutthaya-Phachi route will cover 19.7km and require an investment of Bt13.07 billion. The environmental impact of this route is currently being assessed. This route will cover four stations, namely Ban Ma, Mab Phrachan, Phra Kaew and Phachi. It is expected to be open for service in October 2034.
The Thammasat Rangsit-Ayutthaya route will cover 31.2km and require about Bt22.97 billion. This route is expected to open in October 2030.
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