Saha Group urges BOT to weaken bath

Saha Group posted a 7-per-cent sales drop year on year in the first four months due to the baht's appreciation, which seriously hit its export business.

With the economic downturn and strong baht, the group expects its overall sales to drop by at least 5 per cent this year.

The group posted growth of between 2 and 3 per cent to about Bt100 billion in sales last year, including exports.

"Compared to the decline in the group's sales, our bottom-line profit in the first four months was worse as we needed to fight against the strong currency and maintain our export accounts," said Boonsithi.

He said the group would be cautious about any new investment as it believes the economic recovery will take longer than many people predict.

"Our currency has been on a managed-float system since the government decided to devalue the baht in 1997. However, the baht has appreciated from 42 against the US dollar in the recent past to the current 34. The stronger baht hurts our export business as well as the country's gross domestic product, which contracted by 7 per cent in the first quarter," said Boonsithi.

He said the stronger currency had also impacted people at the grass roots, with many of them having been laid off as companies' export business is adversely affected.

"As we know, almost 80 per cent of our GDP is from the export sector. I feel the baht should be devalued to the appropriate level of about 40 against the US dollar, which would help our export sector and the overall improvement of the economy," said Boonsithi.

He added that the strong baht had in particular seriously impacted Saha Group's textile and footwear exports, which have declined by more than 30 per cent this year from the first four months of last year.

The ratio of exports has also dropped significantly, from 30 per cent of total sales to about 20 per cent.

Saha Group yesterday announced the 13th Saha Group Fair, to be held between June 25 and 28 at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre. More than 1,000 products in 850 booths will be offered to local shoppers at special prices.