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Published on October 30, 2007

Narong said Ratchaburi was now 45-per-cent owned by the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat), with the Government Savings Bank (GSB) holding a 2.62-per-cent stake.

As the ratio is less than 50 per cent, the company is not classified as a state enterprise, which should qualify it for the bidding, he added.

The Social Security Fund owns 3.95 per cent of Ratchaburi, but Narong said its stake should not be combined with those of Egat and the GSB, given that the fund was a government agency and not a state enterprise.

Leather upturn

The Top Ten Trading Group, a manufacturer of leather fashion products, expects the leather market to grow 5-10 per cent next year from an estimated Bt20 billion.

It bases its forecast on the general election boosting consumer confidence.

The company expects its sales to grow 7 per cent this year and 10 per cent next year, said CEO Niwat Kiranantawat.

Top Ten will take part in the Department of Export Promotion's Thai Leather and Footwear Week 2007 from Friday to November 11. Its Marwell, Fenneli, Karren and Mayfine brands will be on sale at up to 70 per cent off. Prices of all these brands usually range from Bt1,400 to Bt4,000.

The four brands are sold at 80 outlets in The Mall, Robinson and Central department stores.

Domestic sales contribute 60 per cent of company sales. The company's main export markets are Dubai, Singapore and Russia, but it plans to penetrate India, China, Hong Kong and Japan further.

The Nation

VN in top spot

Vietnam was the biggest supplier of sugpo prawns to the US in the first eight months of the year, says a recent report by the US Commerce Department.

Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (Vasep) data show the country exported 3,800 tonnes worth US$62.4 million (Bt2.13 billion) to the US, up more than 21 per cent year on year.

"Vietnam has favourable natural conditions to breed such large prawns, and in the first quarter the country was short-listed among the top 10 exporters in this lucrative market," Vasep general secretary Truong Dinh Hoe said yesterday.

He attributed the rise to higher demand in the world's largest economy.

Vietnam exported $1 billion worth of frozen prawns, or 111,900 tonnes, in the first nine months, up 1.2 per cent in value. Prawn exports accounted for nearly one-third of its seafood revenue.

Vietnam News/Asia News Network