Thailand's auto production expected to reach 2.5m units in 2015

BANGKOK, September 24 (TNA) - Japan expects that Thailand's automobile production should reach 2.5 million units in 2015, a 25 per cent year-on-year increase from about two million units this year. Hisamichi Koga, President of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce (JCC) in Bangkok, and Masayasu Hosumi, President of Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), made the assessment on Wednesday, when they led JCC and JETRO executives to meet new Thai Industry Minister Chakramon Phasukvanich in the Thai capital. Chakramon, who is a former secretary-general of the Board of Investment of Thailand (BOI), told journalists after the meeting that the Japanese side, therefore, wants Thailand to increase the quota of steel imports with reduced tariff to feed Japan's automobile production in the Thai economy, referring to the steel import quota under the Japan-Thailand Economic Partnership Agreement (JTEPA). The JCC and JETRO delegations claimed that Japan has been granted quota of steel imports from the Thai government only 50-60 per cent of its total steel import into the Thai Kingdom. In response, the industry minister said, he proposed that the JCC and the JETRO delegations ask the Japanese government to fully comply with terms under the JTEPA. Besides, JCC and JETRO want the Thai Industrial Standards Institute to relax its inspection on steel production standard in Japan, which now requires the annual inspection. The new industry minister agreed to have the institute to, from now on, conduct the inspection every two years instead, the new move of which satisfied the Japanese side. The industry minister acknowledged the JCC and JETRO representatives confirmed that Japanese operators are interested in increasing their investment in Thailand, especially in the automobile industry. (TNA)