SMEs hard hit by downturn

Office of Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion director-general Pak Tongsom yesterday said those factors affected main-ly service businesses including restau-rants, travel agencies and transportation.

"They cannot absorb surging costs from oil prices while restaurants have fewer cus-tomers as they prefer to have meals at home," he said.

Strong sales for DFPO

Successful sales have encouraged plans by the Dairy Farming Promotion Organisation of Thailand to target Bt4.5 billion in sales revenue in fiscal 2009.

Deputy director Rattana Angsupakorn yesterday said sales revenue was projected to reach Bt4 billion this fiscal year. Next year's sales projection was set after third-quarter sales reached Bt3.6 billion, accounting for 96 per cent of the entire year's target. Rattana said the results came from a good marketing strategy and new distribution outlets in Chiang Mai and Hat Yai.