Thailand pays more attention to ASEAN markets
Thai businesses need
to view the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as an
“extended domestic market” in order to maintain sustainable growth,
according to Thai commercial experts.
At a
conference held in Bangkok recently, Thai Commercial Counselor in the
Myanmar city of Yangon, Prajuab Supinee, said that both income and
purchasing power of ASEAN consumers have been increasing in recent
years.
Thai companies and businesses should attach
more importance to product quality and create products which are
different from Chinese products, he said.
Manager of
the Thai Commercial Centre in Ho Chi Minh City , Pranomsri
Sormkunngoen, also said Thai exports to Vietnamese and ASEAN markets
showed prospects for acceleration.
Evaluating the
Vietnamese market, he said that although high inflation reduces
Vietnam’s consumption, the income of the country’s consumers is still
increasing and they are interested in good-quality products with
competitive prices.
Therefore, Thai businesses need to plan to invest in Vietnam to avoid non-tariff barriers, he said.
According to Pranomsri, fields with potential for development in
Vietnam are food and agricultural product processing, manufacturing
industries and retail markets./.