Thailand to cut logistic costs by 15%

BANGKOK, October 26 (TNA) - The Thai government, through the Ministry of Industry, is going ahead with a plan to cut the country's logistic costs by 15 per cent annually in the near future, from over 500 billion baht a year currently. Anong Paijitprapapon, chief of the Bureau of Logistics under the Thai Ministry of Industry's Department of Primary Industries and Mines, told journalists of the plan Friday, acknowledging that the master plan on industrial logistic development has already won approval from the national logistic development committee, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Kittirat Na-Ranong. As part of the master plan, Anong said, her agency will focus on cutting inventory costs, which form as much as 55 per cent of all logistic costs, in the Thai industrial sector, to 30-40 per cent by promoting cooperation among transportation companies in order to reduce the trips of empty trucks. According to the senior official, the implementation of the master plan will start in the Thai North and the Thai Northeast this year, before launching in other Thai regions next year. The senior official also expected nationwide cooperation of transportation firms by 2016, which should lead to better use of trucks and a considerable reduction of Thailand's industrial logistic costs. According to official statistics, Thailand's logistic costs total as much as 1.6 trillion baht annually, including those in the local industrial, service, trade and agricultural sectors, which are close at about 500 billion baht each annually. (TNA)