Tensions put Thailand on sidelines of ASEAN investment plans
BY KHETTIYA JITTAPONG AND ORATHAI SRIRING
BANGKOK

(Reuters) - Continuing political uncertainty, derailed infrastructure plans and sliding domestic demand are making big Thai companies look more keenly at investing elsewhere in the neighborhood rather than in Southeast Asia's second-largest economy.

At the Reuters ASEAN Summit, two of the country's largest companies, Siam Cement PCL SCC.BK and Charoen Pokphand (CP) Foods PCL CPF.BK, outlined growth strategies that are now firmly focused outside their home country.

"We are investing more in ASEAN and less in Thailand, where we focus on high value-added products," Siam Cement chief executive Kan Trakulhoon said during an interview in Reuters Bangkok office on Thursday.

CP Foods told the summit how it is targeting 75 percent of company revenue to come their foreign operations within the next five years, up from 65 percent currently.

"Growth in emerging countries will surpass the domestic market," said chief executive Adirek Sripratak, noting his company plans to expand in nearby Philippines and Vietnam.

On Friday, there was another piece of gloomy data on the Thai economy, as factory output fell for the 11th straight month in February, by 4.4 percent compared with a Reuters poll forecast for a 3.5 percent drop.

Full story: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/28/us-asean-summit-thailand-idUSBREA2R0J720140328

-- REUTERS 2014-03-29

"Tensions put Thailand on sidelines of ASEAN investment plans"

Not 'tensions'

The spector anti-democratic forces being tolerated in a Democratic country puts Thailand on the sidelines.

Media's ongoing misleading stuff, trying to characterize coup-intentioned entities and their shadowy supporters as somehow equating to normative political tensions is seen for what it is.....especially by those in the regional neighborhood.

Why would anyone wish to invest in a country that coddles anti-democratic forces.

We are investing more in ASEAN and less in Thailand

I hope it's as easy for them outside, as it was for outsiders in Thailand.

I wonder how much this has to do with the minimum wage, Not just the political problems

"Tensions put Thailand on sidelines of ASEAN investment plans"

Not 'tensions'

The spector anti-democratic forces being tolerated in a Democratic country puts Thailand on the sidelines.

Media's ongoing misleading stuff, trying to characterize coup-intentioned entities and their shadowy supporters as somehow equating to normative political tensions is seen for what it is.....especially by those in the regional neighborhood.

Why would anyone wish to invest in a country that coddles anti-democratic forces.

Yes why invest in a country that coddles anti-democracy when they can invest in a Thaksin run dictatorship

The plus side is cross the right palms with silver and you get all you need just as long as you remember your place in the scheme of things.

Given who is a major shareholder in Siam Cement, that is interesting.

Thailand takes its rightful place on the "sidelines." Soon to be the back door in the rear.

I wonder how much this has to do with the minimum wage, Not just the political problems

Minimum wage "NO" Minimum willingness to work "YES".

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"Tensions put Thailand on sidelines of ASEAN investment plans"

Not 'tensions'

The spector anti-democratic forces being tolerated in a Democratic country puts Thailand on the sidelines.

Media's ongoing misleading stuff, trying to characterize coup-intentioned entities and their shadowy supporters as somehow equating to normative political tensions is seen for what it is.....especially by those in the regional neighborhood.

Why would anyone wish to invest in a country that coddles anti-democratic forces.

If you think Thailand is a democratic style country , you certainly have never lived a democracy have U

"Tensions put Thailand on sidelines of ASEAN investment plans"

Not 'tensions'

The spector anti-democratic forces being tolerated in a Democratic country puts Thailand on the sidelines.

Media's ongoing misleading stuff, trying to characterize coup-intentioned entities and their shadowy supporters as somehow equating to normative political tensions is seen for what it is.....especially by those in the regional neighborhood.

Why would anyone wish to invest in a country that coddles anti-democratic forces.

Morning Fb,didn't understand 1 word of your post.Your posts are like a difficult crossword puzzle,challenging and satisfactory when you work them out.Please don't stop or I might become brain dead.

"Tensions put Thailand on sidelines of ASEAN investment plans"

Not 'tensions'

The spector anti-democratic forces being tolerated in a Democratic country puts Thailand on the sidelines.

Media's ongoing misleading stuff, trying to characterize coup-intentioned entities and their shadowy supporters as somehow equating to normative political tensions is seen for what it is.....especially by those in the regional neighborhood.

Why would anyone wish to invest in a country that coddles anti-democratic forces.

Yes why invest in a country that coddles anti-democracy when they can invest in a Thaksin run dictatorship

The plus side is cross the right palms with silver and you get all you need just as long as you remember your place in the scheme of things.

Might be time to remind people about the guy who took 30 pieces of silver,remind me,what happened to him.

Thailand has the second largest economy in Southeast Asia. That's mainly based on tourism.

Guess where that's going.

I wonder how much this has to do with the minimum wage, Not just the political problems

Minimum wage "NO" Minimum willingness to work "YES".

It's also called work ethic,which Thais do not have.

"Tensions put Thailand on sidelines of ASEAN investment plans"

Not 'tensions'

The spector anti-democratic forces being tolerated in a Democratic country puts Thailand on the sidelines.

Media's ongoing misleading stuff, trying to characterize coup-intentioned entities and their shadowy supporters as somehow equating to normative political tensions is seen for what it is.....especially by those in the regional neighborhood.

Why would anyone wish to invest in a country that coddles anti-democratic forces.

If you really believe that this is a one sided affair your a naive SOB. Stop being part of the problem with your ongoing BS rhetoric. There has never been Democracy in this country regardless of who has been in power and if you cannot grasp that Thailand is highly tensed you are kidding yourself. This country could blow apart any time soon but rather than acknowledge it, you are as usual off with the fairies and spreading your self satisfying bias crap.

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<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

"Tensions put Thailand on sidelines of ASEAN investment plans"

Not 'tensions'

The spector anti-democratic forces being tolerated in a Democratic country puts Thailand on the sidelines.

Media's ongoing misleading stuff, trying to characterize coup-intentioned entities and their shadowy supporters as somehow equating to normative political tensions is seen for what it is.....especially by those in the regional neighborhood.

Why would anyone wish to invest in a country that coddles anti-democratic forces.

If you think Thailand is a democratic style country , you certainly have never lived a democracy have U

Thailand has elements of democracy but is is not what I call a "complete" democracy. I would call it a "faux" democracy. Most of Thailand's democratic shortcomings come from its current constitution and numerous independent organizations.

When President Obama visited Thailand in November 2012 he was asked at a new conference by a Thai reporter "When will Thailand be a democracy like the US?" Obama's diplomatic answer was (paraphrasing) that America's democracy took a long time to mature, so be patient. In more direct terms, Thailand has a long ways to go - it is not a democracy yet. After leaving Thailand when Obama was in Mynamar during the same tour he stated that the US rewards democractic countries. You can almost hear a subliminal whisper, "unlike Thailnad if it cannot evolve into a more democratic state."

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"Tensions put Thailand on sidelines of ASEAN investment plans"

Not 'tensions'

The spector anti-democratic forces being tolerated in a Democratic country puts Thailand on the sidelines.

Media's ongoing misleading stuff, trying to characterize coup-intentioned entities and their shadowy supporters as somehow equating to normative political tensions is seen for what it is.....especially by those in the regional neighborhood.

Why would anyone wish to invest in a country that coddles anti-democratic forces.

If you think Thailand is a democratic style country , you certainly have never lived a democracy have U

If 'Democratic perfection" is your standard, yes, then you are correct.

But as Rickers has indicated in his Post above, Thailand has enough significant elements of Democracy to render it as such.

It has regularly scheduled Elections, that are generally considered to be fair, in spite of its' shortcomings....Don't let the idiocy of vote-buying influence you unduly.....It is practiced by all sides, thereby cancelling each other out. Studies have shown that even without vote-buying, the results would have been the same.

Parliament functions normally in spite of the electoral minority self-servingly obstructing it....Which is as much due to their anti-democratic streak as anything.

If one isolates on the biased judiciary, Independent organizations and other "significant people",....yes, one could say Thailand is far from democratic.

But all I can conclude, is that Thailand ought to hang in there...get this nonsense about "Reform" back in parliament, and get with a "progressive agenda".

To be 100% cynically negative about Thailand's lack of Democracy is somewhat playing the game of the coup-mongers. They need to cultivate a sense of Democratic ineptitude in order to get traction for their self-serving agenda's.....All I can say to them......Get into Parliament and strut your stuff!

"Tensions put Thailand on sidelines of ASEAN investment plans"

Not 'tensions'

The spector anti-democratic forces being tolerated in a Democratic country puts Thailand on the sidelines.

Media's ongoing misleading stuff, trying to characterize coup-intentioned entities and their shadowy supporters as somehow equating to normative political tensions is seen for what it is.....especially by those in the regional neighborhood.

Why would anyone wish to invest in a country that coddles anti-democratic forces.

Well your logic is good on the face of it. But as usual you leave out the main part of it.

2010 was far worse and it was accepted by investors because they knew that when it was game over it would be business as usual. corruption had been on the rise until the Democrats attained the office of Prime Minister tenuous as it was under a minority government it still manage to stop the upward growth of corruption.

After the Democrats were out and the PTP in the corruption once again start to rise. In 2013 it rose by 2% and showed no signs of ending.

Now with it being exposed for the whole world to see big investors know that they will be unable to pull off all the shady deals they have managed to under Thaksin's regimes and are quite naturally looking else where to maximize their profits. With shady deals.

As Paul Harvey would say "and now you know the rest of the story"

Thailand takes its rightful place on the "sidelines." Soon to be the back door in the rear.

You forgot the

thank you PTP

Thailand has passed the phase of needing to rely on FDI. Innovation should be what drives the economy next as well as developing skilled workers in a variety of fields, not 300 billion thrown at rice subsidies, that's ridiculous. They should throw out the highspeed rail lines in favour of a solid dual track and electrified train network, it would be more than enough to suffice rail travel needs for now. That would save about a trillion baht, right now the infrastructure bill is in limbo and nothing is getting done which presents a grim picture to investors over Thailands future.

Media's ongoing misleading stuff, trying to characterize coup-intentioned entities and their shadowy supporters as somehow equating to normative political tensions is seen for what it is.....especially by those in the regional neighborhood.

Reuters are part of the conspiracy too, now?

I say dissolve the Dems and the PTP and start over.

Call it the PoC: Party of Compromise.

Motto: I understand we aren't going to agree on everything, but that doesn't mean we all have to go down with the ship.

Where would anyone expect them to invest when they have market dominance in an oligopoly at home.

.they can't squeeze the Thais for more. They have been pipped and squeaked.

"Tensions put Thailand on sidelines of ASEAN investment plans"

Not 'tensions'

The spector anti-democratic forces being tolerated in a Democratic country puts Thailand on the sidelines.

Media's ongoing misleading stuff, trying to characterize coup-intentioned entities and their shadowy supporters as somehow equating to normative political tensions is seen for what it is.....especially by those in the regional neighborhood.

Why would anyone wish to invest in a country that coddles anti-democratic forces.

Morning Fb,didn't understand 1 word of your post.Your posts are like a difficult crossword puzzle,challenging and satisfactory when you work them out.Please don't stop or I might become brain dead.

I think it's called 'Double Dutch'.

"Tensions put Thailand on sidelines of ASEAN investment plans"

Not 'tensions'

The spector anti-democratic forces being tolerated in a Democratic country puts Thailand on the sidelines.

Media's ongoing misleading stuff, trying to characterize coup-intentioned entities and their shadowy supporters as somehow equating to normative political tensions is seen for what it is.....especially by those in the regional neighborhood.

Why would anyone wish to invest in a country that coddles anti-democratic forces.

Morning Fb,didn't understand 1 word of your post.Your posts are like a difficult crossword puzzle,challenging and satisfactory when you work them out.Please don't stop or I might become brain dead.

I think it's called 'Double Dutch'.

23 comments and all you are doing is bashing PTP, Thaksin or each other. Did any of you bother to read the OP? I thought not, because if you had, you would have immediately seen what a pile of tosh it is. Nowhere in thr OP do any of the companies mentioned say they are investing outside of Thailand because of the political tensions, slow down in local demand or cancellation of infrastructure budgets. That is the Nation's opinion, which is worth the same as my opinion or yours. The political allegiances of the proprietor of that rag are well known and it suits the Nation to politicize what are routine business investment decisions by transnational companies.

These companies are already operating in several countries outside of Thailand. For example, according to the OP, CP Foods already gets 65% of its revenue from outside Thailand. All they are planning to do is to increase the scale of those operations, not move out of Thailand. The reality is further growth for these companies within Thailand is limited more by their market share than the factors mentioned by the Nation. Were that not the case, they would not have become transnational companies.

Frysy boppe should be banned for trolling GARBAGE

Marcusd. Via tapatalk

Thailand has the second largest economy in Southeast Asia. That's mainly based on tourism.

Guess where that's going.

around 7% of Thai GDP comes from international tourism.

got any more uniformed generalisations to pull out of the hat?

Thailand has the second largest economy in Southeast Asia. That's mainly based on tourism.

Guess where that's going.

around 7% of Thai GDP comes from international tourism.

got any more uniformed generalisations to pull out of the hat?

You are gullible beyond measure. So what you hear from TAT, Thai gov, etc is the truth? I hope you are Thai because if you are a farang you should hang your head.

I don't have time to educate you but here's a "generalized" tid bit. If the tourism is 7% of the economy why is TAT, gov, etc talking about the economy collapsing because of tourism is down. So 7% (and not all) is bring the economy down? You are a fool.

Digest that and I will accept your apology when you are able.

Thailand has the second largest economy in Southeast Asia. That's mainly based on tourism.

Guess where that's going.

around 7% of Thai GDP comes from international tourism.

got any more uniformed generalisations to pull out of the hat?

I don't think 7% is anywhere near the mark. It may be the figure bandied around by the government and I think we all know that any figures bandied around by them are just a bunch of fiction. Thais are a proud bunch and will not want people to think they are dependent on something as distasteful as foreigners.

Who knows the real figure, but it's going to be substantially higher and don't forget that money brought in to Thailand by foreigners greases the wheels of many a business in tourist areas that would otherwise not survive.

If you look at the progress of Thailand over the last four decades I think it is pretty clear what the driving force has been. It hasn't been super efficient Thai companies, it hasn't been the hard work ethic if your average employee, it hasn't been through innovation from within Thailand, it hasn't been through the staunchly patriotic efforts of a well run government, it hasn't geen through transparency in business, it hasn't been through efficiency. Even the infrastructure which was leagues ahead of its neighbors 20 years ago has now lost its margin because of the corruption and lack of maintenance. 2 trillion to make a high speed rail link is just a nonsense as everyone knows and probably a gift to the Chinese in return for who knows what and also an excellent pot of opportunity for the corrupt to plunder once again.

With all that has happen ended in the rice scheme and the huge corruption and non payment to the poorest people, how can anyone support another ill design project that would force the country into huge debt?

Thailand is in trouble. It is floundering in a sea of uncertainty, grossly polarised people with little thought as to why except a hatred for the other colour, losing its attraction for investors and continues to a use foreigners who do want to invest here. It is frankly going down the relative tubes in comparison to its neighbors and needs a real shake up. The people are starving and there are only two restaurants serving up rotten food. Neither are palatable and neither will improve their nutrition. Which one do they have to choose? Time for another restaurant to open serving up something more wholesome.

Thailand has the second largest economy in Southeast Asia. That's mainly based on tourism.

Guess where that's going.

around 7% of Thai GDP comes from international tourism.

got any more uniformed generalisations to pull out of the hat?

I don't think 7% is anywhere near the mark. It may be the figure bandied around by the government and I think we all know that any figures bandied around by them are just a bunch of fiction. Thais are a proud bunch and will not want people to think they are dependent on something as distasteful as foreigners.

Who knows the real figure, but it's going to be substantially higher and don't forget that money brought in to Thailand by foreigners greases the wheels of many a business in tourist areas that would otherwise not survive.

If you look at the progress of Thailand over the last four decades I think it is pretty clear what the driving force has been. It hasn't been super efficient Thai companies, it hasn't been the hard work ethic if your average employee, it hasn't been through innovation from within Thailand, it hasn't been through the staunchly patriotic efforts of a well run government, it hasn't geen through transparency in business, it hasn't been through efficiency. Even the infrastructure which was leagues ahead of its neighbors 20 years ago has now lost its margin because of the corruption and lack of maintenance. 2 trillion to make a high speed rail link is just a nonsense as everyone knows and probably a gift to the Chinese in return for who knows what and also an excellent pot of opportunity for the corrupt to plunder once again.

With all that has happen ended in the rice scheme and the huge corruption and non payment to the poorest people, how can anyone support another ill design project that would force the country into huge debt?

Thailand is in trouble. It is floundering in a sea of uncertainty, grossly polarised people with little thought as to why except a hatred for the other colour, losing its attraction for investors and continues to a use foreigners who do want to invest here. It is frankly going down the relative tubes in comparison to its neighbors and needs a real shake up. The people are starving and there are only two restaurants serving up rotten food. Neither are palatable and neither will improve their nutrition. Which one do they have to choose? Time for another restaurant to open serving up something more wholesome.

Nice job explaining that one. I don't think that could have been explained any better.