Thai March domestic car sales jump 25.5% year-on-year, helped by stimulus

[snoop1130]

FILE PHOTO: Visitors look at a Suzuki Jimny car during Bangkok Auto Salon 2019 in Bangkok, Thailand, July 4, 2019. Picture taken July 4, 2019. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha/File Photo

 

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Domestic car sales in Thailand jumped 25.47% in March from a year earlier to 74,295 vehicles, helped by government stimulus, the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) said on Tuesday.

 

The increase came a month before a third wave of coronavirus infections hit the country.

 

In February, sales declined 10.9% year-on-year.

 

(Industry body corrects sales figure in paragraph 1 to 74,295 vehicles, not 74,925)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-04-27

 

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[bluesofa]

10 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

Domestic car sales in Thailand jumped 25.47% in March from a year earlier to 74,295 vehicles, helped by government stimulus

I've obviously missed something here.

Was this the 15,000 Baht payment to a few lucky recipients, or the 2,000 Baht a month food payments for a couple of months.

Perhaps it was some cheating hoteliers who apparently had thousands of guests booked to stay per night?

What else was there that would encourage a new vehicle purchase?

[Brierley]

7 minutes ago, bluesofa said:

I've obviously missed something here.

Was this the 15,000 Baht payment to a few lucky recipients, or the 2,000 Baht a month food payments for a couple of months.

Perhaps it was some cheating hoteliers who apparently had thousands of guests booked to stay per night?

What else was there that would encourage a new vehicle purchase?

It's a year on year comparison, last year the sales were close to zero I imagine because the virus had just arrived. I guess the message is that things are getting better maybe?

[CharlieH]

Post removed by request.

[Brierley]

And look what happened to USD/THB when the news was announced:

 

 

 

[bluesofa]

17 minutes ago, Brierley said:

It's a year on year comparison, last year the sales were close to zero I imagine because the virus had just arrived. I guess the message is that things are getting better maybe?

Fair enough.

I was going on the phrase 'helped by government stimulus'.

I was baffled that it could be considered to have any real effect on car sales, when the majority of people in receipt of it were hardly scraping by.

[hotchilli]

14 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Domestic car sales in Thailand jumped 25.47% in March from a year earlier to 74,295 vehicles,

This is accountancy speak for BS

 

[Cake Monster]

With household debt running at all time highs of 89 % of GDP, and the risk of NPL increasing to nearly 10 %, why, oh why, are the Banks still lending to people that are most likely already struggling with their existing Finances.

Surely there is some kind of mechanism in place ( credit checking etc ), that should prevent the vulnerable being exploited by the Finance Companies and the Car Dealers.

OK ! The economy is on its Uppers, we all know that. But what price is to be placed on this kind of Economic stimulus, that will only bring so much heartache and sorrow to so many when it all goes pear shaped.

I find the lending policies here in LOS to be really beyond bad, and it is anything, at any cost to get that Loan, and a Sale of a Car 

[MasterBaker]

i thought stimulus is to help people to survive, not to buy luxury items, but it's just me

[Brierley]

8 minutes ago, Cake Monster said:

With household debt running at all time highs of 89 % of GDP, and the risk of NPL increasing to nearly 10 %, why, oh why, are the Banks still lending to people that are most likely already struggling with their existing Finances.

Surely there is some kind of mechanism in place ( credit checking etc ), that should prevent the vulnerable being exploited by the Finance Companies and the Car Dealers.

OK ! The economy is on its Uppers, we all know that. But what price is to be placed on this kind of Economic stimulus, that will only bring so much heartache and sorrow to so many when it all goes pear shaped.

I find the lending policies here in LOS to be really beyond bad, and it is anything, at any cost to get that Loan, and a Sale of a Car 

I think your NPL number may be a bit high, if indeed NPL's were headed for 10%, the banks wouldn't lend to other than preferred borrowers. The focus seems to be on debt restructuring or kicking the can down the road until things improve and that seems like a good strategy all round. FWIW I think the overall NPL number is closer to 4% although some SME's are running at 6% but large caps are only at 2%.

[GreasyFingers]

There are a few second hand car dealers up here that are going to need more space in the next 12 months. Some of them are overloaded with repossessed cars now.

[Excel]

1 hour ago, hotchilli said:

This is accountancy speak for BS

 

You may well be right but some of the amateur experts on here will believe it no doubt

[Henryford]

What stimulus? the 5000 baht for food that a few people got?

[Brierley]

1 minute ago, Henryford said:

What stimulus? the 5000 baht for food that a few people got?

The stimulus what a lot broader than just the two handouts to workers. It also included a debt  repayment moratorium to SME and soft loans., in total about US 30 bill was spent. Details here:

 

"Thailand has issued three major stimulus packages (Phase 1, 2, and 3) in 2020 in response to the economic fallout of the pandemic, totaling over US$30 billion. These packages focused on providing soft loans for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), tax exemptions, and cash handouts to certain workers. In addition, the government issued some US$700 million in incentives to help the struggling tourism industry, which accounts for 20 percent of GDP".  

 

https://www.aseanbriefing.com/news/thailand-issues-new-covid-19-stimulus-package-to-accelerate-investments/#:~:text=Thailand has issued three major,cash handouts to certain workers.

[Henryford]

Average car sales in Thailand are about 85,000 a month. Sales in April 2020 were 30,000 !! So the jump this month should be massive.

[Brierley]

3 minutes ago, Henryford said:

Average car sales in Thailand are about 85,000 a month. Sales in April 2020 were 30,000 !! So the jump this month should be massive.

I didn't read where anyone thinks car sales are going to return to the norm. next month, just that they had improved substantially last month. I would expect it to take many many months for them to return to the norm.

[vandeventer]

1 hour ago, Brierley said:

I didn't read where anyone thinks car sales are going to return to the norm. next month, just that they had improved substantially last month. I would expect it to take many many months for them to return to the norm.

They might be talking about those little electric cars and trucks you know the ones that have no plates and should not be driven on the road.

[RichardColeman]

20 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Domestic car sales in Thailand jumped 25.47% in March from a year earlier to 74,295 vehicles, helped by government stimulus,

I must have missed the Thai government promotional car ad about keeping up with the Joneses.

[rickudon]

The Thai government likes to say how the economy has improved on 2020, but never compare to 2019........

[bangon04]

so many Thais needed to buy a new car ready for the Songkran traffic jams......

[Brierley]

14 hours ago, rickudon said:

The Thai government likes to say how the economy has improved on 2020, but never compare to 2019........

No country or government ever does. The measure of current year performance is always a comparison to the previous year, otherwise the change can't be sensibly measured...you might ask, why not compare to three years ago or four, which is of course silly.

[rickudon]

On 4/29/2021 at 4:46 AM, Brierley said:

No country or government ever does. The measure of current year performance is always a comparison to the previous year, otherwise the change can't be sensibly measured...you might ask, why not compare to three years ago or four, which is of course silly.

Because last year Covid skewed economic indicators. Sales have not yet recovered to 2019 levels. In UK analysts compare months in 2021 to 2019 as well as 2020 ( Although for UK have 2 destabilizing factors affecting the economy).