FTI monitoring impact of coronavirus on supply, logistics

FTI monitoring impact of coronavirus on supply, logistics

The Federation of Thailand Industries (FTI) is monitoring effects of the coronavirus outbreak on supply chain and logistics systems for imports from China.

Kriangkrai Tiannukul, the FTI's vice-chairman, said the Lunar New Year is still being celebrated, so many suppliers stopped their operations.

This factor was known and local companies purchased raw materials and components from China before the holidays.

"The virus outbreak caused the Chinese government to postpone the New Year celebration across the country from Jan 24-30 to Feb 3-10. Some precincts plan to control the virus spread until Feb 17," said Mr Kriangkrai.

"Thailand's industrial sector has yet to suffer from the postponement until Feb 17."

He said local companies importing from China need to prepare their supply chains and logistics systems to handle the possible delays.

"There is no supply shortage yet as local companies have enough raw materials and components for their manufacturing operations," said Mr Kriangkrai.

Due to the long holidays and the virus situation, Thai companies also have yet to receive new purchase orders from China.

Overall production and manufacturing sectors will stay flat from both local and overseas markets.

Thongchai Chawalitpichaet, director-general of the Office of Industrial Economics (OIE), said the office has not recorded any negative effects from the outbreak in terms of supply chain disruption in the country's industrial sector.

"Local factories and shops are still operating," he said.

"The office is optimistic that Thai companies are well prepared to avoid the supply shortage problem."

Mr Thongchai said China also imports a variety of raw materials from Thailand to supply its manufacturing sector.

He said Thai companies should use this crisis to seek new markets and suppliers to manage future risks if the virus situation cannot be solved within a month.

The OIE forecasts Thailand's manufacturing production index in 2020 will grow 2-3% amid a host of economic risks stemming from US-China trade tensions.

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