1230 PST, Monday, January 19, 2009
The International News
PUBLISHED BY ‘THE INTERNATIONAL NEWS’ (Pakistan)
Archive for the ‘THAILAND’ Category
AUSTRALIAN JAILED FOR THREE YEARS FOR INSULTING THAI KING (Thailand)
Posted by Gilmour Poincaree on January 19, 2009
Posted in AUSTRALIA, ECONOMIC CONJUNCTURE, ECONOMY, FINANCIAL CRISIS 2008/2009, FOREIGN POLICIES, FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND CONSCIENCE, HUMAN RIGHTS, INTERNATIONAL, INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, JUDICIARY SYSTEMS, RECESSION, THAILAND | Leave a Comment »
SOMALIA, THAILAND, & SAUDI AMONG DFA FLASH POINTS IN 2008 – The year 2008 has been a challenging one for the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) as it saw a series of pirate attacks on merchant ships in Somalia, the repatriation of stranded Filipinos in Thailand, the beheading of a Filipino worker in Saudi Arabia, and the mass deportation of Filipinos in Malaysia
Posted by Gilmour Poincaree on January 3, 2009
Saturday, January 3, 2009
by Charissa M. Luci
PUBLISHED BY ‘THE MANILA BULLETIN’ (Philippines)
Posted in CARGO PIRACY, CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES, ECONOMIC CONJUNCTURE, ECONOMY, FINANCIAL CRISIS 2008/2009, FOREIGN POLICIES, HUMAN RIGHTS, INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION, INDUSTRIES, INTERNATIONAL, INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, JUDICIARY SYSTEMS, MALAYSIA, MIGRATION AND IMMIGRATION, PHILIPPINES, RECESSION, SAUDI ARABIA, SOMALIA, THAILAND, THE UNITED NATIONS, THE WORK MARKET, THE WORKERS, THE WORKING ENVIRONMENT | Leave a Comment »
JAPANESE AFFILIATES BEARISH ON PROFITS
Posted by Gilmour Poincaree on December 29, 2008
01:02:00 12/30/2008
by Ronnel Domingo – The Philippine Daily Inquirer
PUBLISHED BY ‘THE PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER’
Posted in AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY, COMMUNICATION INDUSTRIES, DIGITAL INDUSTRIES, ECONOMIC CONJUNCTURE, ECONOMY, ELECTRIC / ELECTRONIC INDUSTRIES, FINANCIAL CRISIS 2008/2009, FINANCIAL MARKETS, FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRIES, INDONESIA, INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION, INDUSTRIES, INTERNATIONAL, MALAYSIA, PHILIPPINES, SINGAPORE, THAILAND, THE FLOW OF INVESTMENTS, VIETNAM | Leave a Comment »
THAI LEADER PROPOSES $8.7 BLN STIMULUS PACKAGE
Posted by Gilmour Poincaree on December 27, 2008
Dec 26, 5:57 AM EST
Associated Press
PUBLISHED BY ‘THE TOLEDO BLADE’ (USA)
Posted in AGRICULTURE, BANKING SYSTEMS, CENTRAL BANKS, COMMERCE, COMMODITIES MARKET, ECONOMIC CONJUNCTURE, ECONOMY, FARMING SUBSIDIES, FINANCIAL CRISIS 2008/2009, FINANCIAL MARKETS, FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRIES, INTERNATIONAL, RECESSION, REGULATIONS AND BUSINESS TRANSPARENCY, THAILAND, THE FLOW OF INVESTMENTS | Leave a Comment »
WISE UP OR LOSE OUT, GM TELLS PARTS SUPPLIERS (South Africa)
Posted by Gilmour Poincaree on December 4, 2008
PORT ELIZABETH Thursday December 4, 2008
by Bob Kernohan – BUSINESS EDITOR
PUBLISHED BY ‘THE HERALD ON LINE’ (South Africa)
SMALL vehicle component suppliers need to smarten up or face the possibility of closing because they increasingly 
risk being uncompetitive, a motor company executive cautioned in Mandela Bay this week.
General Motors SA global purchasing and supply chain vice-president Evan Dold was speaking about the need for the vehicle manufacturing industry at all levels to become totally world competitive.
He said the cost of components in a vehicle made up 75% to 85% of the total.
Dold said studies carried out by GMSA in the second quarter had shown that there was an ex-factory “cost gap” of about 30% between a sample of parts sourced locally and the same parts sourced from the most competitive cost location in the Latin America, Africa, Middle East region, under which GM‘s SA operations fall.
He said further: “When sourced from the lowest cost sources globally, such as from emerging markets like Thailand, the gap increased to about 40%.”
Dold suggested that domestic manufacturers could capitalise on the weakness of the rand and narrow the competitiveness gap by increasing domestic content, so also providing a stronger hedge against future currency weakness.
“Growing local content while volumes are down will be a challenge. But it is not all doom and gloom, and the weak rand will work in our favour.
“We should also use the downturn to eliminate unnecessary costs so that when the rand strengthens, we are more competitive and profitable.”
Domestic component production volumes also needed to increase.
“This is a particularly 
difficult challenge right now, but the industry has always been cyclical and at some stage the markets will start turning.
“Even with the downturn in volumes globally, the weak rand should assist some of our more competitive local suppliers to grow volumes through new export contracts.
“In some cases we can also grow volumes with our most competitive local suppliers by rationalising our supply base and re-sourcing business from less competitive suppliers.”
On increased volumes, Dold said: “Our studies have shown that a doubling of volumes will on average lower the piece part cost by some 10% to 20%, depending on actual volumes.”
Asked about the possible implications for small domestic suppliers of changes worldwide, Dold said it had to be realised that manufacturers were now “globally integrated”.
“For instance, when we are told of a price increase by a local supplier, that information goes into the pot and it is discussed in a global context.
“It has to be realised 85% of GM‘s global business is done with its top 350 suppliers.”
If GMSA‘s local 
suppliers provided the required quality, service and world-competitive costing, the company would continue to do business with them, Dold said. Otherwise, it could look to its worldwide supply base.
He urged smaller suppliers to take advantage of opportunities in areas like joint ventures with similar enterprises or “selling out” to multinational companies.
Dold pointed to some steel component manufacturers and the catalytic convertor industry as being success stories.
Posted in AFRICA, AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY, COMMERCE, COMMODITIES MARKET, ECONOMIC CONJUNCTURE, ECONOMY, FINANCIAL CRISIS - USA - 2008/2009, FINANCIAL CRISIS 2008/2009, INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION, INDUSTRIES, INDUSTRIES - USA, INTERNATIONAL, LATIN AMERICA, METALS INDUSTRY, MIDDLE EAST, RECESSION, SOUTH AFRICA, THAILAND, THE WORK MARKET, THE WORKERS | Leave a Comment »
FILIPINOS’ PESSIMISM UP — MASTERCARD POLL
Posted by Gilmour Poincaree on November 17, 2008
11/13/2008
Filipino consumers have grown more despondent and are among the most pessimistic in Asia with a 
confidence index of 40 against a 47.4 average in the region during the first half and from a far higher 67.7 a year ago, results from the latest MasterCard Worldwide Index of Consumer Confidence released yesterday showed.
Most Asian consumers are pessimistic on the six month period ahead, the survey showed.
While consumers in Vietnam, China, India and Singapore relatively remained optimistic; Hong Kong and Taiwan consumers registered steep declines in consumer confidence levels.
Consumer confidence across the region has dropped seven points from six months ago, as a result of current economic volatility and the prospect of a global economic recession.
The current regional consumer confidence score of 47.4 is significantly below the score six months ago of 55 and a year ago of 67.3, according to Mastercard.
The level, however, remained higher than the 1997-1998 Asian economic crisis average of 32.3.
Overall consumer outlook has also fallen across the five indicators that make up the index compared to six months ago: employment (41.2 vs 54.2 six months ago), economy (42.1 vs 51.8), quality of life (44.0 vs 48.2) and the stock market (45.5 vs 53.4) and regular income (64.3 vs 72.2).
The index is based on a survey which measures consumer confidence on prevailing expectation in the market for the next six months. It is calculated based upon percentage response figures, with zero as the most pessimistic, 100 as most optimistic and 50 as neutral.
Only four out of the 14 markets surveyed — Vietnam, China, India and Singapore — were optimistic 
about the first half of next year. Vietnam tops the index with a score of 88.1 and the only market that has increased its score from six months ago.
China (76.6), India (63.9) and Singapore (62.3) remain optimistic about the first half of 2009 but they are less optimistic than they were six months ago (China: 82.7; India: 82.1; Singapore: 87.3).
Thai consumers continue to be pessimistic, though confidence levels have risen slightly from six months ago (23.7). The current score is, however, much lower than a year ago (44.2).
At the other end of the spectrum, nine markets are pessimistic about the first half of 2009, with Hong Kong (41.8 vs. 83.1 six months ago) and Taiwan (32.1 vs. 71.3 six months ago) recording the biggest declines.
“Consumers across AsiaPacific are clearly feeling the effects of the global credit crisis. While Asian financial institutions may be less affected by the global credit crunch and the financial sector melt down, Asian markets have been just as severely suffered the impact; and the regional powerhouses like China and India are equally affected. While the consumer confidence scores in China and India are still optimistic, confidence levels are still much lower than they were before,” Dr Yuwa Hedrick-Wong, economic advisor to MasterCard in Asia-Pacific said.
The latest survey was conducted from Sept. 1 to 29 2008 and involved 6,019 consumers across 14 key Asia-Pacific markets.
Posted in CHINA, COMMERCE, COMMODITIES MARKET, CONSUMERS AND PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS, ECONOMIC CONJUNCTURE, ECONOMY, FORMOSA - TAIWAN, INDIA, INTERNATIONAL, PHILIPPINES, SINGAPORE, THAILAND, VIETNAM | Leave a Comment »
