ภาษาไทยThai industrial estate revenues soaring this year
The U.S. was one of the three largest foreign direct investors in Thailand during the first half of 2021, as total investment pledges rose by 158 percent and revenue earned from industrial estates increased by 138 percent.“We feel encouraged by the fact that so many foreign investors, including many new ones chose to invest in Thailand at a time when the global investment environment remains challenging due to the continued impact of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Duangjai Asawachintachit, Secretary General of Thailand’s Board of Investment (BoI).
Pledged investments for the period totaled nearly $11.6 billion. Since not all investments go through the BoI, the actual figure is most likely higher.
Japan was the leading investor in Thailand during the first half of 2021, followed by the U.S. and China. Japanese firms had 87 projects worth $1.3 billion, followed by investments from the U.S. with 18 projects worth $723 million, and China with 63 projects worth $558 million.
“The statistics demonstrate investors’ confidence in Thailand’s strengths in key industries, such as electronics, medical supplies and biotech,” Duangjai said.
The electronics industry attracted the most investment among target sectors with 77 projects worth $1.8 billion, a 136 percent increase over the previous year.
The medical sector followed with 47 projects worth a combined $1.3 billion, more than triple the $387 million during the same period last year.
The petrochemicals and chemicals sector ranked third with 43 projects worth $846 million, up sixfold from the year earlier, followed by the agriculture and food processing sector which saw 97 applications worth $696 million, up 78 percent year-on-year.
The biotechnology sector finished fifth with 10 projects worth $621 million, nearly nine times higher from the previous, boosted by a large bioplastics investment application from the U.S.