Thailand's high electricity costs push up industrial production costs

According to the report of the Thai World Daily on January 19, Surya, the Minister of Industry of Thailand, revealed that the trend of high energy prices has increased industrial production costs, accelerated inflation, and also led to the decline of the competitiveness of Thai entrepreneurs. It is predicted that the energy price situation will have a long-term impact. The Ministry of Industry of Thailand ordered the Industrial Economy Office to study the impact on the industry. Ms. Volawan, director of the Industrial Economy Office of Thailand, said that the Industrial Economy Office used the data in the production factors and output tables of the Office of the National Economic and Social Development Commission to study and analyze the impact of electricity price rise on the industrial sector, and found that the increase was 5.33 baht/unit, This will lead to an average increase of 4.88% in industrial production costs. The industrial production cost of the most affected steel industry increased by 12.41%, the production cost of the cement industry increased by 9.47%, the production cost of the textile industry increased by 8.96%, the production cost of the concrete products industry increased by 8.14%, the production cost of the clothing industry increased by 7.98%, and the production cost of the ceramic industry increased by 6.49%. When considering the industries affected by the additional electricity price, the monthly shipment index data of the first 10 months of 2022 (January to October) is used. It is found that the growth rate of the monthly shipment index of the steel industry and textile industry is relatively low compared with other industries. Compared with entrepreneurs in other industries, entrepreneurs in steel and textile industries need to adapt a lot. The way to reduce the impact of increased electricity bills is that entrepreneurs need to find energy to replace energy imports, including relying on clean energy and alternative energy, such as solar energy, hydropower, wind energy, hydrogen energy, etc. It is necessary to save energy in the workplace, effectively manage the space utilization rate in the workplace, adapt to storage by planning the use of space, such as the use of natural light, the use of LED, the use of automatic switch sensor system, the installation of ventilation fans, and create a storage space in the office to make use of every valuable space.