PTT has instructed its US arm to review plans for a chemical plant in Ohio, citing a change in investment conditions.
The company said Joe Biden’s victory in the US presidential election would result in a change in American trade and investment policies. Meanwhile the Covid-19 pandemic was also affecting consumer behaviour, it added.
The move comes after PTT Global Chemical (PTTGC)’s plan to build a Bt5.7-billion petrochemical-to-plastics plant in Ohio hit a snag in July when joint partner Daelim Industrial of South Korea pulled out.
“The PTTGC Petrochemical Complex has to be reviewed as business conditions are completely changed, said Auttapol Rerkpiboon, president and CEO of PTT’s oil and gas enterprise, on Wednesday.
The review should be complete by the middle of next year, he added.
PTTGC is currently studying plans for US-based petrochemical complexes worth more than Bt200 billion and has postponed its final investment decision from the third quarter this year to next year.
The company is eyeing expansion in the US, which has the world’s lowest petrochemical production costs coupled with rising demand for polymers.
PTT said it remained committed to investing in the international trading business in the US, which can be managed in line with changing conditions.
The company has established PTT International Trading USA (PTTT USA) and has targeted US trade of 30,000 barrels per day.
Lagarde says next stimulus to rely on emergency QE, loans
EconNov 11. 2020Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank, is seen on a TV screen speaking during a live stream video of the central bank’s virtual rate decision news conference in Frankfurt, Germany, on Oct. 29, 2020.. MUST CREDTI: Bloomberg photo by Chris Ratcliffe.
By Syndication Washington Post, Bloomberg · Carolynn Look, Piotr Skolimowski · BUSINESS, US-GLOBAL-MARKETS European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said policymakers will focus on emergency bond purchases and long-term loans for their next wave of stimulus, effectively ruling out interest-rate cuts as a way to aid the economy.
“While all options are on the table, the pandemic emergency purchase program and targeted longer-term refinancing operations have proven their effectiveness,” she said. “They are therefore likely to remain the main tools for adjusting our monetary policy.”
The Stoxx Europe 600 extended gains after Lagarde’s comments, and Italian 10-year bond yields extended their decline, signaling optimism that the ECB would increase asset purchases.
The euro area’s economic outlook has darkened considerably in recent weeks as record-breaking coronavirus cases across the region have forced governments to reintroduce restrictions on activity. A stronger-than-expected rebound over the summer months has given way to a possible double-dip recession, and Lagarde warned that any future recovery is likely to be unsteady.
The ECB is widely predicted to increase and extend its 1.35 trillion-euro ($1.6 trillion) pandemic bond-buying program at its meeting in December, and many economists also expect it to make changes to its ultra-cheap credit for banks. Lagarde stressed that the duration of policy support matters as well as the level of financing conditions.
That backs the view of economists that the central bank is likely to stretch emergency purchases by at least six months to the end of 2021, and implement more of its targeted long-term bank loans or lengthen their duration.
The ECB hasn’t lowered its deposit rate, currently at -0.5%, at all during this crisis. Officials are concerned about the adverse consequences of doing so, which would squeeze bank profitability and could eventually deter lending.
Still, cuts aren’t completely off the table. ECB research published this week showed that the deposit rate could fall as low as -1% before it becomes more harmful than beneficial.
“While the latest news on a vaccine looks encouraging, we could still face recurring cycles of accelerating viral spread and tightening restrictions until widespread immunity is achieved,” she said. “The recovery may not be linear, but rather unsteady, stop-start and contingent on the pace of vaccine roll-out.”
Lagarde’s remarks formed part of the ECB’s annual forum, normally held in the Portuguese resort of Sintra and traditionally a venue for strong policy messages from her predecessor Mario Draghi.
“The second wave of covid-19 presents new challenges and risks, but the blueprint for managing it is the same,” Lagarde added. “The ECB was there for the first wave and we will be there for the second wave.”
By The Washington Post · Eva Dou · BUSINESS, WORLD, RETAIL, ASIA-PACIFIC SEOUL, South Korea – Retailers hit hard by the coronavirus have asked China’s consumers to step up, and this week, shoppers took one small step for their wardrobes and one giant leap for economic recovery.
Chinese e-commerce giants Alibaba and JD.com reported brisk sales on Wednesday for the country’s annual shopping extravaganza – like Black Friday plus Cyber Monday and more – even though they had to pull out more stops than usual, with an extended sales period and lots of coupons. It’s a promising sign for the global economy, as the world’s No. 2 consumer market rebounds.
Cathy Tu, the 53-year-old owner of an education consulting company in Beijing, said she bought winter clothes for her parents in the online sales. She said that in the wake of the pandemic, she is a little more careful with her spending.
“Before, I might have bought a few extra clothes for myself just because they were on discount,” she said. “This time I bought things for family, and for myself, things that I needed.”
The sales fest, known as Singles Day, will go a long way to help retailers make up for losses earlier in the year – though it won’t get them all the way there, said Becky Han, associate director of China corporate research at Fitch Ratings. She expects China’s consumer market to finish the year with a low-single-digit sales decline.
“Heavy promotions are likely to drive up spending from the mass majority middle-class households whose incomes are more affected by the pandemic,” she said.
The shopping carnival comes as Alibaba grapples with an array of regulatory issues besides the global economic downturn. On Tuesday, Beijing announced it is drawing up an antitrust law to curb the power of Internet giants – a development that caused Alibaba’s stock to plunge as much as 9% on Wednesday.
Earlier this month, financial regulators suspended the IPO plans of Ant Group, Alibaba’s financial services spinoff, in a shock to the industry.
The regulatory scrutiny could mean headaches in coming months for Alibaba. For the moment, though, shoppers like Beijing resident Wang Yajing were enjoying the bargain hunting.
Wang, a 33-year-old documentary film maker, said she and many of her friends waited up past midnight to snag deals in the first minutes of Wednesday.
“You can put the stuff in your cart in advance, but you have to wait until after midnight to get the discounts,” she said. “I didn’t want to wake up the next morning to find they’d sold out.”
Wang said she ordered dried walnuts and other food for her mother, and household goods like laundry detergent for herself.
Singles Day – so named because the date 11/11 resembles four singles – originated in China as a tongue-in-cheek celebration by young people of their single status. Since 2009, Alibaba has turned the day into a shopping extravaganza, with celebrity appearances (Katy Perry made a virtual appearance this year) and discounts on everything from flat-screen TVs to houses.
In this year’s Singles Day, Alibaba spotlighted several Western brands hoping for China sales to help them through the downturn. These included French luxury goods house Cartier and Grand Rapids, Mich.-based vacuum cleaner brand Bissell Homecare.
Duncan Clark, chairman of consulting firm BDA China, said the brisk Singles Day sales broadly reflected China’s economic recovery, which has been faster than in the United States and Europe.
“They’re talking about therapeutics in the West, but we are talking about retail therapy here,” said Clark, who lives in Beijing.
China’s e-commerce companies also took extra pains this year to ensure they could declare a successful Singles Day. Alibaba began Singles Day sales early on Nov. 1, stretching out the occasion into a week and a half of promotions, and making it difficult to compare directly with last year’s performance.
Alibaba vice president Liu Bo said at a news conference last month that the company was spending more on Singles Day this year than ever, with a whopping 4 billion yuan ($606 million) in cash vouchers for shoppers. Alibaba said Wednesday it had racked up $56 billion and counting in gross merchandise volume through this month’s promotions, with Apple, Nike and L’Oréal among the sales standouts.
Alibaba and JD.com have tried to draw consumers’ interest with live-streamed sales pitches and mobile games. From Alibaba, shoppers could earn coupons by watering a virtual plant or petting a cat, while JD.com shoppers could get discounts by feeding a virtual puppy on their phones.
Liu Hui, chief data officer of JD.com’s big data research institute, said in an interview Tuesday that the company has seen strong sales in health and wellness products this Singles Day, possibly an effect of the coronavirus pandemic. Sales of health supplements and treadmills rose this year from last.
“China’s consumers are more health-conscious now,” he said.
Ouyang Haotian, a 21-year-old college senior in Guangzhou, said he isn’t a big online shopper, but he joined in on Singles Day to buy an electric toothbrush.
“It was something I needed anyway, so I might as well get it on sale,” he said.
CKP sees Q3 net profit of Bt831.3m, plans to issue debentures
CorporateNov 11. 2020Xayaburi Hydroelectric Power Plant
By The Nation
CK Power Public Company Limited (CKP) announced an expected third quarter net profit of Bt831.3 million, envisaging an optimistic fourth quarter.
TRIS Rating gave the firm an “A/Stable” rating over its development of large power plants and expected cash flow.
CKP managing director Thanawat Trivisvavet said the performance of the firm and its subsidiaries in the third quarter was positive after the company faced a decrease in revenue in the second quarter due to lowered production capability during the dry season.
Overall, CKP earned Bt2.13 billion in revenue during the quarter, about Bt129.5 million more than the same period last year, when the company earned Bt2.001 billion, it said. The revenue growth amounts to a 6.5 per cent increase in total revenue, resulting in a third-quarter net profit of Bt831.3 million, compared to Bt33.3 million in the same period last year, an increase of Bt798 million.
This quarter’s impressive rise in revenue is due to the fact that the Nam Ngum 2 Hydroelectric Power Plant was able to generate and sell more electricity than the same period last year.
In the third quarter, the power plant generated 405.2 million units of electricity – a 35.4 per cent increase from the previous quarter when it produced and sold about 299.3 million units of electricity.
As for the water inflow, the plant experienced a 7.5 per cent increase compared to the same period last year, when the water inflow was reported at 2.22 billion-2.38 billion cubic meters.
The reported increase in net profit is partially due to the updated progress report about investment in the Xayaburi Hydroelectric Power Plant, which is now operating at full capacity.
CKP was able to sell 2.31 billion units of electricity from the Xayaburi plant, which subsequently generated Bt4.48 billion in income.
Simultaneously, the Bangpa-in Cogeneration Power Plant 1 and 2 are operating as normal, the firm said.
CKP and its subsidiaries have earned a total Bt5.72 billion in revenue in the past nine months, Bt1.007 billion, or 15 per cent, reduction compared to the same period last year mainly because of the announcement to gradually reduce and sell electricity from the Nam Ngum 2 Hydroelectric Power Plant. Hence, mid-year sales revenue in 2020 was lower than the same period last year. Additionally, revenue from the Bangpa-in plants 1 and 2 was also about 7 per cent lower this year than last year due to lower gas prices. However, the company was still able to generate Bt397 million in total profit, a Bt140 million, or 55 per cent, increase from last year, when it earned Bt257 million in total profit, the firm said.
This increase in profit is due to profit sharing from the Xayaburi plant, which was recorded at Bt231 million. The Xayaburi plant has so far this year generated revenue totalling Bt8.94 billion from selling 4.65 billion units of electricity.
Thanawat said the company is now planning to issue debentures (non-subordinated, unsecured) of no more than Bt4 billion around the end of this month in order to facilitate further operations and new power plant investment that is currently under negotiation.
How resiliency forms the strongest link in the digital supply chain
Biz insightsNov 11. 2020Fabio Tiviti, vice president for Asean, Infor
By Fabio Tiviti Special to The Nation Recent times have brought the importance of supply chain resiliency into even sharper focus. Organisations that had already built resilience into both their technology and operational networks have weathered the turbulent times through the Covid-19 pandemic better. For others, it has been a huge wake-up call.
As we now stand back and attempt to regroup, rebuild and regenerate, every business has a chance to reflect and decide how to become better prepared.
This is the point at which organisations in every vertical market should realise that resiliency needs to be built in at a granular executional level; it is a function that should apply to and connect with the architectural foundations of every process in the company. It is not some sort of dial or switch that you simply turn on or up at the start of a crisis, whether it is a global contagion or some other form of economic upheaval.
The shape of change
But before we consider the nature of resiliency, we need to decide what we really mean by “change” itself in order to understand the various forms that it manifests itself in.
At the force majeure level, there is sudden catastrophic change, the likes of which we have of course witnessed in 2020. Outside of pandemics, we should also include other “black swan” events that disrupt supply chains, such as a sunken container ship, a hurricane, or perhaps a widespread contamination incident.
While these massively disruptive and dreadful events typically cause chaos and the loss of life, they are comparatively infrequent and so (in any normal world) they don’t threaten the long term viability of a business with the same types of market forces and fluctuations that emanate from deeper-set market trends.
There are more ground level changes in demand patterns that nibble away at margins and service capabilities slowly. Less cataclysmic, these changes can ultimately have even more impact than a hurricane.
Even longer term, when securing essential strategic resources for the business itself is threatened, change happens in a form that can lead to business closure. Knowing how and why change itself occurs (and what shape it comes in) can help us to build a resilient supply chain capable of driving business operations today, with a constant eye on every variable factor that could impact business tomorrow.
Visibility, intelligence, digital connection
A resilient supply chain is based on three core capabilities: visibility, intelligence and a digitally connected ecosystem. To restate these cornerstones in more depth, we are talking about end-to-end real-time visibility; intelligence across root cause identification, exception detection and resolution management; and an exceptional ability to execute through a digitised ecosystem that provides a path to autonomous “sense and respond” activities.
Taking each of these elements in turn, let’s look at visibility. In a traditional business model, an enterprise bases its visibility only on what its suppliers are telling it. You don’t really know where your order is, or when it’s going to arrive. However, cloud-based supply chain networks offer the opportunity for all parties to view and interact with one single view of an order in real time. The net result is that the business, its suppliers, and its carriers operate using a single instance and version of data – a single source of truth.
This singularity is important. It cuts out uncertainty, delays and eradicates separation so that there is little or no contingency factor in daily operations. But visibility needs to run end-to-end for true clarity. The business needs to know the impact of its actions upstream (on its suppliers) and as far as possible downstream (into its sales channel and customer base).
Additionally, end-to-end visibility needs to happen in real-time, that is all the information relating to all supply chain transactions, movements, price fluctuations and so on needs to be available all of the time, in real time. Without real-time super high data quality, it is not possible to drive the supply chain by exception and take advantage of machine learning technologies.
Intelligence, to separate the noise
As the resilient supply chain company moves forward, it has the advantage of software algorithms that are able to detect events that can cause disruptive issues. It’s important to remember that there will always be an element of “operational noise” throughout both the physical and financial supply chain, so the organisation will need to qualify just how much noise it can live with in the normal course of business.
At this point we can then drill down into the root causes behind any single event. When there is a shortage of materials for a production plant, or perhaps a shortfall in the supply of finished materials for a retail store, we need to understand the why-factor behind these events. Knowing the difference between a shortage caused by a shift in market demands and scarcity resulting from a container ship being stuck in a port is fundamentally important.
The real intelligence here comes from being able to group together different events happening in various locations around an organisation’s total global supply chain. If the business can pinpoint the same root cause across multiple operational issues, then it can deliver resolution management more quickly.
The digital ecosystem
An intelligent resilient supply chain can process thousands of variables and data sources across a single cloud-based platform in order to help the business navigate forwards. Working at speeds far in advance of any human capabilities, a digital supply chain ecosystem helps all parties connect and collaborate over dates, times, shipping orders, financing and so on. When all partners open up the external-facing portions of their own systems accordingly, business decisions happen faster, with improved accuracy and less uncertainty. More problematic is the fact that it is an uncertainty that breeds contingency and cost.
Onward from automation 1.0
In the immediate future, more and more of the actions we take inside our most resilient digital supply chains will be carried out autonomously by intelligent agents and smart algorithms. Our physical and our accompanying financial supply chain networks will reflect the automation intelligence already being applied to manufacturing via Industry 4.0 practices.
If today we stand at automation stage 1.0, then business is set to apply more algorithmic intelligence in the future. When and where this intelligence is not just smart, but also resilient, is when it starts to make decisions not just based on short term prices, supply availability and market demand, but also on perceived business longevity. The core truth is, building a supply chain capable of resiliency to “normal” change will allow a business to adapt to massive upheavals if and when we have to adjust to some wildly different “new normal”.
As for Thailand, according to kidkah.com, a website under the Commerce Ministry, the logistics services sector’s GDP (transportation and warehouse) in the first half of 2020 accounted for Bt300.91 billion, ranking as the fourth of the highest valued-services industries.
The Department of Business Development indicates, as of August 2020, that Thailand has registered 20,077 of supply chains and logistics providers, but since the country’s logistics services’ GDP has been wrecked by the Covid-19 pandemic, the real GDP shrinks to a negative growth of -21.7 per cent when compared to the first half of the previous year.
However, postal / documents / goods delivery are continuously achieving a leap in growth in accordance with e-commerce and online shopping expansion, especially express delivery services and food deliveries.
One of the challenges Thai logistics providers have faced is how to leverage the use of expensive logistics technology and elevate their businesses to the next step. And of course, like the other countries, innovations and technologies will be deployed for logistics services, in both IT and communications improvement, to support working networks, real-time display, monitoring and tracking, punctuality, including data analysis to meet customers’ needs, for enhanced performance and continuous changes.
Finance Minister orders tax overhaul to boost post-Covid economy
EconNov 11. 2020Finance Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith
By The Nation
Finance Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith has instructed state tax collection agencies to jointly seek ways of overhauling the system to ensure fair treatment of all taxpayers.
The change is also aimed at boosting the country’s competitiveness and wooing foreign investment in the post-Covid era.
A new tax will be introduced for e-commerce and e-businesses, he added.
State tax agencies will also have to consider changes that encourage companies to help solve environmental problems such as PM2.5 pollution.
He also asked the Revenue Department to seek ways to expand the tax base to those currently outside the tax system.
The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) Index closed at 1,345.34 on Wednesday, up 4.10 points or 0.31 per cent. Total transactions amounted to Bt117.15 billion with an index high of 1,356.83 and a low of 1,331.39.
In the morning session, an analyst at Krungsri Securities expected the day’s index to rise to between 1,350 and 1,360 points over positive news of Covid-19 vaccine development, hopes for global trade recovery and the rising oil price.
“However, investors should beware of market volatility from signs of overbought stocks,” he said.
The 10 stocks with the highest trade value today were KBANK, AOT, PTT, STGT, CPALL, MINT, BBL, SCB, GPSC, and SCC.
As of 4.30pm, the price of oil rose by US$1.09 or 2.64 per cent to $42.45 per barrel, while gold dropped by $1.40 or 0.07 per cent, to $1,875 per ounce.
Other Asian indices were mixed:
Japan’s Nikkei Index closed at 25,349.60, up 444.01 points or 1.78 per cent.
China’s Shang Hai SE Composite Index closed at 3,342.20, down 17.95 points or 0.53 per cent, while the Shenzhen SE Component Index closed at 13,720.17, down 273.16 points or 1.95 per cent.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index closed at 26,226.98, down 74.50 points or 0.28 per cent.
South Korea’s KOSPI Index closed at 2,485.87, up 33.04 points or 1.35 per cent.
Taiwan’s TAIEX Index closed at 13,262.19, up 180.47 points or 1.38 per cent.
As many as 11 Thai stocks were listed in the MSCI Global Standard and MSCI Global Small Cap Indices, Asia Plus Securities said on Wednesday.
The securities company said Sri Trang Gloves (STGT) and Delta Electronics (DELTA) were listed in the MSCI Global Standard Index, while TMB Bank (TMB) was delisted.
In MSCI Global Small Cap Index, Banpu Power (BPP), Ichitan Group (ICHI), Jay Mart (JMART), MK Restaurant Group (M), R&B Food Supply (RBF), Thaifoods Group (TFG), Tisco Bank (TISCO), VGI and IRPC were listed, while STP&I (STPI) and Ratchthani Leasing (THANI) were delisted.
“Normally, the price of stocks listed in MSCI Global Standard Index rise by 4 to 5 per cent, while the price of stocks listed in MSCI Global Small Cap Index rise by 2 to 3 per cent,” the securities company said.
The firm went on to say it expects stocks listed in the MSCI Indices to be attractive to foreign investors after they began buying back Thai stocks from Tuesday.
“As an investment strategy, we advise investors to buy TISCO, VGI and CRC as they will benefit from positive news of Covid-19 vaccine development, as well as MINT as its price is still lower than theoretical price,” the securities company said.
The securities company added that MSCI has moved Kuwait stock index from MSCI Frontier Market to MSCI Emerging Market as well.
The Finance Ministry is considering launching a second phase of the “Khon La Khrueng” (Let’s Go Halves) subsidised-shopping scheme early next year as a “New Year gift” to consumers, said minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith on Wednesday.
The scheme, which currently runs from October 23 to December 31, offers about 10 million citizens discounts of up to Bt150 per day on purchases at participating stores, capped at Bt3,000 throughout the period.
Arkhom said that the ministry is also mulling whether to raise the subsidy from Bt150 per day.
All details would be finalised next month, he added.
He insisted that the government has enough budget to finance the scheme. He said the money will come from the Bt400 billion earmarked to aid the grassroots economy, which is part of the Bt1 trillion in borrowing to aid recovery from the Covid-19 crisis.
The price of tourism-related stocks on Tuesday rose sharply after Pfizer and BioNTech announced their coronavirus vaccine was more than 90 per cent effective and they would register the vaccine with the US Food and Drug Administration next week.
The stock price of Minor International (Mint) rose by 26.23 per cent, or Bt4.80, to Bt23.10 per share, Asset World Corporation (AWC) increased by 20 per cent, or Bt0.68, to Bt4.08 per share and Airports of Thailand (AOT) was up by 18.34 per cent, or Bt10.50, to Bt67.75 per share.
CGS CIMB Securities senior vice president of research Kitichan Sirisukarcha said stocks related to tourism, hotels, airlines, commercial banks and oil gained positive sentiment from the progress of a Covid-19 vaccine.
“However, we advise investors buying shares that prices are still lower than the base and business turnover will improve because the price of these stocks may face correction in the short term after rising sharply yesterday [on Tuesday],” he said.
He recommended buying Mint as the group’s business turnover is expected to rise sharply if many countries are able to contain the spread of the coronavirus, Thaioil (Top) and Star Petroleum Refining (SPRC) as fuel demand is expected to increase, and Central Retail Corporation (CRC) and Central Pattana (CPN) as these would benefit from tourist spending.
Kasikorn Securities senior vice-president Sorrabhol Virameteekul said stocks related to transport, construction and media also gained positive sentiment from progress in the development of a Covid-19 vaccine.
For investors who can tolerate risks, he advised buying construction, media and financial stocks as they can escape the impact of the political unrest and their prices were cheap, such as Bangkok Expressway and Metro (BEM) at Bt10.60 per share, JMT Network Services (JMT) at Bt39 per share, Muangthai Capital (MTC) at Bt64.5 per share, CH Karnchang (CK) at Bt29.60 per share and Tisco Bank (TISCO) at Bt84 per share.
Yuanta Securities (Thailand) strategist Natapon Khamthakrue said Thai stocks have responded to the positive news of a Covid-19 vaccine faster than expected.
He advised investors making selective buys in stocks that prices would rise, such as Bangkok Dusit Medical Services (BDMS) at Bt24.30 per share, Ekachai Medical Care (EKH) at Bt4.90 per share, Central Plaza Hotel (Centel) at Bt29.30 per share and Kasikorn Bank (KBank) at Bt100.50 per share.
Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank, is seen on a TV screen speaking during a live stream video of the central bank’s virtual rate decision news conference in Frankfurt, Germany, on Oct. 29, 2020.. MUST CREDTI: Bloomberg photo by Chris Ratcliffe. 
Xayaburi Hydroelectric Power Plant 
Fabio Tiviti, vice president for Asean, Infor 
Finance Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith 
Arkhom Termpittayapaisith 
