Bank of Thailand to Take Further Steps to Reign in Thai Baht

Thailand’s central bank has reported that is ready to take additional steps to rein in the skyrocketing Thai baht.

The Bank of Thailand and the government remain concerned about the baht’s appreciation and continue to discuss the issue, Deputy Governor Mathee Supapongse said told reporters in Bangkok Tuesday.

The bank’s foreign-exchange intervention has helped to boost reserves and curb the baht, Bloomberg reports.

The Bank of Thailand has taken several steps in recent months to limit gains in the baht. Especially after it surged almost 9% against the dollar in 2019, the best performer among Asian currencies. The strong currency has hurt the nation’s exports, prompting calls for further action from the government.

Mathee said it’s not the central bank’s job alone to manage the baht
“The central bank is like the last door to defend the baht,” he said. “The first door is the private sector and the second door is the government. We all need to help out.”

If the central bank is left to solve the baht problem on its own, “they will need to use strong medicine to handle it,” said Mathee. “And it may not benefit much. If all parties help, they can use milder measures which will benefit all parties.”

He added the central bank will take action if it sees currency speculation. Separately, the bank published a foreign-exchange code of conduct on its website, outlining ethical and governance practices for market participants.

BOT Governor Veerathai Says Thailand To Ease Capital Outflow Rules Again
Governor Veerathai Santiprabhob said last week the central bank will relax restrictions on capital outflows again, in an effort to ease upward pressure on the baht. Those steps includes boosting the amount of proceeds exporters can hold overseas to $1 million.

Finance Minister Uttama Savanayana said Monday any steps authorities take to curb gains in the currency won’t disrupt the “market mechanism” of the baht.

Some of the steps already taken by the central bank include:

Interest rates cut twice last year to match a record-low 1.25%
In July, measures were imposed to counter short-term inflows
In November, rules on capital outflows relaxed

The government also plans to issue measures to boost imports on capital goods and machinery for investment to help reduce pressure on the baht.

Source - Chiang Rai Times

#Myanmar (Burma) - Illegal sugar trade continues at Myawaddy border area

Illegal sugar trading continues at the border area of Myawady in Kayin State despite the government suspension of sugar import and re-export, an official of a local sugar trade group said. 

To control the unstable foreign currency exchange rate, the Ministry of Commerce temporarily stopped issuing re-export licenses for sugar and fuel in August. 

Although sugar re-exports are suspended, there are still illegal imports and a large local stockpile of sugar locally, as there are few buyers in China, U Win Htay, vice president of the Myanmar Sugar and Cane Related Products Association, said. 

“There is illegal trading, mostly in Myawady. There is plenty of sugar locally. It is hard to estimate the amount of the sugar in Myanmar, so we should stop the smuggling,” he said. 

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 The sugar season is from December to April. As sugar prices in the global and Myanmar markets are not much different, sugar mills are buying sugarcane for less than the amount paid last season, according to sugarcane farmers, he said.  

  One tonne of sugarcane was priced at K50,000 last year compared to K45000 this year, so farmers are losing K5000 per tonne.

“The sugarcane price goes up or down depending on the price of sugar,” he said.
If there is very low demand for sugar from the mills, then the sugarcane farmers are likely to suffer a bigger loss, he said, so illegal imports of sugar must be stopped, he said.
Imported sugar is exported to China with the re-export license.

Sourse - MMTimes 

Cambodia - Firm caught making copy motorcycles

The Interior Ministry’s Counter Counterfeit Committee (CCC) cracked down on a China-owned motorbike company, Boding Investment Co Ltd (BD), in Por Sen Chey district, Phnom Penh for producing fake Honda motorcycles.

CCC officials found a total of 444 imitation bikes on Thursday morning on BD premises.

The company also imports and sells motorbikes from China, said CCC chief Liv Sophanarith.

“After we received the lawsuit from Honda Motor Company, we went straight to the premises to investigate,” he said, adding that they found production equipment for manufacturing popular Honda models such as the Zoomer X, Scoopy and Dream.

Officers held two suspects who are thought to be the company’s owners. Documents on the copyright violation have been filed in court.

The factory is believed to have been open for some time and distributes fully assembled cycles and parts to shops around the capital.

Boding officials could be reached for comment.

Source - PhnomPhenPost

#Cambodia - Sihanoukville port rides wave of increasing container traffic.

Sihanoukville Autonomous Port (PAS), which operates the Kingdom’s only deepsea port, reported a modest increase in container traffic during the first six months of the year, compared to a year earlier, a trend its director said should result in higher profits for the listed company.

Data obtained from PAS yesterday showed a total of 211,719 20-foot equivalent units, or TEU, passed through the seaport between January and June of this year, an 8 percent increase compared to the same period in 2016. The higher throughput follows a slowdown in growth last year in which container traffic increased by just 2 percent.

Lou Kim Chhun, director general of PAS, said yesterday that the rebound in container traffic growth was the result of Cambodia’s vibrant import and export market, which should be expected for a country that is enjoying 7 percent GDP growth. PAS also recently added new rubber-tyred gantry cranes, which expanded its handling capacity and helped to build more confidence in the port’s operations, he noted.

“Based on the good performance in the first half, we expect double-digit growth of container traffic this year,” he said. “The increased growth of cargo traffic will enlarge our profit margin, which in turn will enable us to distribute high dividends to our stock investors.”

The increase in port container traffic was distributed evenly between imports and exports. 

According to PAS data, imports increased by 8.4 percent year-on-year to 107,181 TEU during the first half, while exports increased by 7.7 percent year-on-year to 104,538.

PAS debuted on Cambodia’s stock exchange in June after an initial public offering that raised $27 million. It was the fifth company to list on the Cambodian Securities Exchange. 

Source - PhnomPenhPost