Briefs

BBL agrees to higher bonus payment

Bangkok Bank has agreed to pay its workers a bonus for 2012 worth 3.5 month's pay, up from the three months it offered previously. However, the workers' union wants four months given the large profit the bank enjoyed last year. The union also wants salaries boosted by Bt1,500, effective next month, along with other demands.

The union will hold talks with management next Thursday.

LPG price capped at Bt30.13 per kilogram

The Energy Policy and Planning Office has pegged this month's maximum retail price of liquefied petroleum gas for the industrial sector at Bt30.13 per kilogram, the price it has been set at for six months, given that the LPG price in the global market has remained high at US$910 per tonne or Bt39.50 per kilo.

LPG imports this year are estimated at an average 150,000 tonnes per month versus 144,000 tonnes per month last year.

3-way talk on baht set for next week

The Commerce Ministry will next week meet with the Kingdom's two most powerful private-sector organisations, the Board of Trade and the Federation of Thai Industries, to discuss the baht's appreciation and its effect on exports.

Commerce Minister Boonsong Teriyapirom said the ministry would discuss how to ease the impacts from the baht's strengthening, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises. It will also consider whether to revise its export-growth target this year, which is set at 8-9 per cent.

Boonsong said the ministry was studying the impact of the baht's appreciation on exports. The growth target of 8-9 per cent is a working target, which could be revised as required by changing circumstances.

Betagro budgets Bt3 bn for expansion

Betagro Group has budgeted Bt3 billion for expanding its animal-feed plants and food-processing business locally and overseas, said executive vice president Vasit Taepaisitphongse.

Construction of an animal-feed factory worth Bt700 million in Cambodia is expected to begin midyear. This will be Betagro Group's 10th plant.

The company plans to broaden its business in Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam in preparation for the upcoming ASEAN Economic Community. In Thailand, the group has completed construction of a new animal-feed plant in Lop Buri province, which it hopes will help boost revenue by 15 per cent from Bt68 billion last year.