Most Thai industries will find it difficult to survive in the post-Covid era, the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) warned as it called on the government to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and make more free-trade deals with trade partners.

Of the 45 industry groups in Thailand, 32 are expected to suffer a drop in demand and will recover slowly after the outbreak due to the global slowdown, Kriangkrai Thiannukul, vice president of FTI, said on Wednesday (May 13).

He added that only 13 industries will expand after the pandemic, namely medical and healthcare devices, pharmaceutical, information and communication technology, pulp and paper, sugar, air-conditioning and cooling systems, food, electricity generating, chemical, rubber products, plastic, printing and packaging and aluminium product.


The Covid-19 outbreak has boosted the medical and healthcare device industry, as well as e-commerce-related industries such as plastic, aluminium and packaging, he said.

Food, meanwhile, is always important for world food security.

Thailand is also the second-largest manufacturer of air-conditioning and cooling systems, which is expected to expand in the post-Covid period, especially since the top manufacturer of these products – China – is still struggling with the virus fallout.

However, at least two-thirds of the industries will face a grim future, namely cloth, textile, auto and parts, cosmetics, leather, shoes, jewellery and ornaments, steel, cement, roof and parts, granite and marble, glass, ceramic, sawmill, plywood, furniture, machinery, agricultural mechanics, ship building, steel construction, metal casting, electronics and telecommunication, herb, palm oil, food supplement, petroleum refinery, petrochemical, gas, renewal energy, handicrafts, environment management and biotechnology, he warned.

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