• 
• 

Published on January 26, 2008

It also has a plan to increase the annual production capacity of ultra high-performance tyres and winter tyres to serve demand in the passenger car market abroad.

However, this expansion project is waiting for BoI approval for tax incentives.

The company churns out 13.32 million tyres per year. It spent Bt1.17 billion last year on opening a centre in Ayutthaya for testing tyre quality and conducting research and development on raw materials.

The centre will provide services to both domestic and international tyremakers. It will also provide testing services to automobile manufacturers here such as Toyota and Honda.

The Nation

DEP to meet Trade Centres

The Department of Export Promotion will call a meeting with 53 Thai Trade Centres late next month to evaluate trading in their host countries and to revise the Kingdom's export plan.

Director-general Rachane Potjanasuntorn said yesterday that the results of the meeting would help the department design an export plan to cope with the global economic downturn driven by the US sub-prime mortgage collapse.

The department will encourage exports of more services, which have great potential. The government will also help the private sector find new markets.

The Thailand Research and Development Institute recently forecast exports growing by 7-8 per cent this year, lower than the Commerce Ministry's prediction of 10-12.5 per cent.

The Nation

Khon Kaen to build Lao mill

Khon Kaen Sugar Industry's Lao subsidiary Savannakhet Sugar Corp will build a Bt900-million plant with a crushing capacity of 3,000 tonnes of sugar cane per day.

The company's Lao sugar-cane plantation covers 10,000 hectares. 

The Nation

Picnic closes ethanol unit

Picnic Corp will liquidate Picnic Ethanol, a subsidiary involved in ethanol production.

The company cited an oversupply of ethanol for the move.

It also will liquidate Gas Trans (Thailand), which is owned by its wholly owned subsidiary World Gas (Thailand). Gas Trans (Thailand) has been inactive for a long time, Picnic said. 

The Nation