Japan’s automobile production fell 6. 3 percent in January from a year earlier, marking the fourth consecutive month of decline, the Japan Automobile Manufacturing Association (JAMA) said in a report on Monday.
Automobile production in January totaled 706,107 units, down from the 753,734 units total production logged in the same month a year earlier, JAMA said.
January’s decline follows a 5.1 percent fall the previous month and a 6.7 percent contraction logged in November, the industry body said.
Manufacturing of passenger cars fell 7.2 percent to 609,598 units, while truck production dipped 2.1 percent to 87,830 units to mark the second straight month of decrease. The production of buses however, increased 17.2 percent to 8,679 units, marking the fourth straight month of increase, JAMA said.
The association also noted that domestic sales of automobiles in Japan dropped 16.7 percent year-on-year in January to 305,500 units sold.
JAMA highlighted that the domestic sales figures were in stark contrast to figures showing that auto exports increased in the recording period by 7.3 percent in comparison with the same month of the previous year.
&$&$Source:Xinhua&$&$
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Japan’s auto output falls 6.3% on year in Jan.
Hub of ASEAN
Thailand was one of the founding members of ASEAN and has been instrumental in the formation and development of the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA).
AFTA entered into force on 1 January 2010 for the six original ASEAN (ASEAN-6) members (Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, and Brunei), thereby reducing import duties to zero; the so-called CLMV countries (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam) will follow suit in 2015.
Thailand has forged close economic cooperation with other ASEAN member nations, and Thai manufactured products and services have access to their markets, which includes all 10 ASEAN countries. ASEAN is home to more than half a billion people, GDP in excess of US$1.5 trillion and total trade of well more than US$1 trillion per year.
Social and political stability
Thailand is a foreigner friendly and welcoming Buddhist country. The country’s form of government is a constitutional monarchy, with a high reverence for the Thai Monarchy, and devotion to the teachings of Buddhism. And although the vast majority of the people in Thailand are Buddhist, all religions are welcome, and His Majesty the King is the patron of all religions.
Thailand planned Big Bang for the next five years
In addition the Exchange will increase foreign listings to not less than 5 percent of total market capitalization. The new structure proposes 2 major groups: (1) The Stock Exchange of Thailand and (2) the Capital Market Development Fund (CMDF). The SET will focus mainly on the capital market functions while the CMDF will deal with long-term capital development through investor education, capital market personnel development and support for SET Research Institute, corporate governance and corporate social responsibility.
The SET has replaced the Automated System for the Stock Exchange of Thailand (ASSET) with the new automated trading system named the Advanced Resilient Matching System (ARMS). This new system, which matches with those used by leading global stock market, can accommodate higher trade volumes and new products and support the planned ASEAN Linkage project. The Financial Sector Master Plan (FSMP) Phase II is expected to be implemented next year. The Financial Sector Master Plan (FSMP) Phase II, which is a five-year plan ranging from 2009-2013, will be implemented in 2009.
This plan aims to reduce operating costs of financial institutions; increase competition among financial institutions and non-bank entities through expanding the business scope permitted banks and greater foreign participation; and improve market architecture with the development of limited deposit insurance and greater variety in risk-management instruments. The new plan allows greater competition in the banking industry. The plan would strengthen the banking system by lowering the NPL ratio to less than 2 percent in 5 years (2013).
