He said the government's revenue in the early part of the fiscal year had met its target and there was no current need to revise tax policy.

The economy is still growing well and will be boosted by the Cabinet's decision to approve the five mass-transit rail projects, he said. In addition, the current   government's term is limited, so it should not become involved with tax revisions.

Pridiyathorn said comments by Deputy Finance Minister Sommai Phasee about a VAT hike referred to long-term tax policy.

Push for Choose

Universal Food (UFC) is to spend Bt60 million on marketing its new 100-per-cent fruit and vegetable juice, called Choose.

The juice targets consumers aged between 20 and 35, and the company expects that within two years, it will snatch one-third of the Bt2.6-billion vegetable and fruit-juice market, now dominated by Tipco and Unif.

The market's value has expanded by between 15 and 20 per cent per year over the past few years, said UFC's vice chairman for marketing, Auychai Rangchaikul, "We're ready in terms of production, human resources and investment.

"As well as Choose, we are launching new products and refreshing our UFC brands in all three categories - juice, canned fruit and vegetables, and seasoning sauces. We'll focus more on launching new products for domestic and foreign markets, rather than on subcontract production," he said.

In the big league

Malaysia's trade, which hit 1.069 trillion ringgit (Bt10.95 trillion) last year, has placed the country in the league of top exporting nations such as Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Germany and the Netherlands.

International Trade and Industry Minister Rafidah Aziz said yesterday a strong 10.3-per-cent growth in exports last year had resulted in the country recording a trade surplus for the ninth consecutive year.

The trade surplus of 108.46 billion ringgit - the highest ever recorded - was an 8.7-per-cent increase over 2005.

Exports, valued at 533.79 million ringgit in 2005, grew to 588.95 billion ringgit, or 55.1 per cent of total trade last year. Imports also expanded 10.7 per cent to 480.49 billion ringgit, from 434.01 billion ringgit in 2005, due mainly to an increase in the value of imported intermediate and capital goods.

Export growth is attributed to strong demand from major markets, particularly Asean, the United States and China; a 38.6-billion-ringgit increase in manufactured exports; higher prices for commodities such as crude oil, palm oil and crude rubber; and sustained competitiveness in the export sector.