Fair sales to hit Bt600m
The Export Promotion Department is projecting sales of up to Bt600 million from the Bangkok International Gift Fair, Bangkok International Houseware Fair, and Otop to the World 2006.
The events opened yesterday and run until Sunday at Impact Arena Muang Thong Thani. Deputy Commerce Minister Preecha Laohapongchana said yesterday that the gifts, decorative items and One Tambon One Product (Otop) merchandise were a big hit with international agents. About 50 buyers from the United States and 19 from South Africa are visiting the fair. Exports of gifts and home decorations rose 4.3 per cent to US$1.52 billion (Bt57.7 billion) last year, and in the first two months of this year were up 7.4 per cent year on year to $218.56 million, according to the ministry's statistics. The department also expects that orders from Japanese watching the Jupiter Shop Channel will increase to 50 million yen (Bt16 million) this year. This is the second year for the live TV broadcast of the shopping programme from the Otop fair to Japan. It has expanded to one hour. Last year, with only about 15-30 minutes, the show generated ¥20 million in orders from Japanese buyers. Bill Concello, senior vice president of Jupiter Shop Channel Co Ltd, said the company had picked Thailand to be its partner because of the popularity of Thai goods among the Japanese and the high quality of Otop products. The best-sellers are Thai-style handbags, Thai silk fabrics, mangoes and handicrafts, he said. The department and Jupiter will cooperate more to promote Thai goods and tourism to Japan this year. Petchanet Pratruangkrai, The Nation
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