The department expects more buyers and visitors than last year after increasing its marketing effort in Europe, the US, the Middle East, China, Japan, Australia, South Africa, India, Canada and Southeast Asia. The event is being held at the Bangkok International Trade and Exhibition Centre.

The department said yesterday that the fair was only one part of its strategy part of the department's plan to increase exports. Others include participating in international auto fairs, promoting original equipment manufacturers to set higher standards of quality and creating networks for supply-chain management.

Highlights of the fair include a car-decoration competition to recognise young designers developing auto parts. Visitors can also attend seminars like "Thai versus Chinese motorcycles: Performance Benchmarking", "Logistics: Lowering Costs for Auto-Parts Exports", "Auto Parts in the E-market World", "E-Commerce Software for the Automotive Business", "The Russia Auto-Parts After-Markets" and "US Auto Parts After-Markets".

Auto industry exports are targeted to grow 40 per cent to 400,000 units this year thanks to the government's "Detroit of Asia" policy to promote both manufacturing and exports of automobiles.

Automobiles and auto parts are Thailand's second-largest export sector. Exports grew 23.7 per cent to US$6.06 billion (Bt227 billion) in the first eight months of this year from the same period last year.

The top export products were automotive parts, cylinder engines, motorcycle parts, bicycle parts and ignition equipment.

The first three days of the event are business days for local and international trade visitors and the final two days are open to the general public.

Petchanet Pratruangkrai

The Nation