Despite COVID-19, deals worth USD 123 million signed at Thailand subcon trade show

By Lee Kah Whye
Singapore, October 05 : Despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and travel restrictions in many parts of the world, the Board of Investment of Thailand (BOI) successfully held the Subcon Thailand 2020 international trade show from September 23-26, leading to the closing of 3.89 billion baht (USD 123 million) worth of business deals during the event.
Although COVID-19 is very much under control in Thailand, due to the international nature of the event, this year's convention was conducted in a "hybrid" virtual-physical format. This means that the conference and show were held on-site at the Bangkok International Trade and Exhibition Centre (BITEC) with online and video platforms used to facilitate meetings with overseas businesses that were unable to send delegates to the conference.
The COVID-19 has been very much successfully contained in Thailand with a daily average of 5.5 reported cases in the last eight days based on the World Health Organisation (WHO) data. As of October 3, Thailand encountered 3,583 cases of COVID, a case rate of 51.33 per 100,000 population, and 59 deaths with the last death occurring on September 19.
The foreign participants at Subcon Thailand 2020 included companies from India, China, Japan, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Korea, Vietnam, Italy, UK and the US. A wide range of industries was represented including automotive and car parts, electronics, medical equipment, and machinery.
For Indian companies, this was an opportunity to take advantage of the growing business ties between India and Thailand.
Two-way trade between Thailand and India has grown by 43.6 percent since 2016 according to data from India's Ministry of Commerce and Industry. It stood at USD 7.72 billion in the 2015-16 fiscal year (which ends in March) and totalled USD 11.09 billion in 2019-20. The 2019-20 figure consisted of USD 6.79 billion in Indian imports from Thailand and USD 4.30 billion in Indian exports to Thailand. This is 6.7 per cent lower when compared with the previous year's number of USD 11.88 billion.
Among ASEAN countries, Thailand ranks as India's fifth-largest trading partner after Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam respectively.
Major imports from Thailand to India include electronics, machinery, automobile and automobile parts and accessories, jewellery, and rubber products. The main Indian exports to Thailand are crude oil, chemicals, machinery, jewellery including gold and silver, iron and steel products, and food products.
Subcon Thailand 2020 is ASEAN's largest international industrial subcontracting trade show and is held annually. This year's event was postponed from the usual May date to September as countries had earlier in the year imposed economic lock-downs to fight the COVID-19 outbreak.
In this latest Subcon Thailand show, there were 1,277 business matching sessions involving Thai and foreign exhibitors and buyers resulting in at least 3.89 billion baht (USD 123 million) in expected business value, according to data collected by the BOI of Thailand.
The estimated business value does not yet include the result of the online sessions which is still being evaluated.
The event is co-organised by the BOI, the Thai Subcontracting Promotion Association and event organiser Informa Markets, in conjunction with Intermach, the leading industrial machinery exhibition in Southeast Asia.
"This is better than expected and it's quite a success especially when you consider that the schedule of the event was confirmed only two months ago and the time we had to publicise it was quite limited," said Sonklin Ploymee, Director of the BOI's Industrial Linkage Development Division. "This was the first time we organised business matching online so we did not expect that so many buyers would register in advance, showing a strong need to enter our business matching activities."
She added that this is the first time Chinese companies are taking part in business matching meetings at the event and, also the first time BOI linked Thai and Vietnamese supply chains demonstrating Thailand's strength as the regional hub of subcontracting.
Some 121 exhibitors presented their technology, equipment and services in 183 booths, with 12,487 visitors in attendance which is in line with expectations. A total of 103 buyers invited by the BOI registered to take part in business matching sessions during the show, including 79 companies who took part online and 24 onsite. Of the total 1,277 business matching sessions, 1,140 were held onsite and 137 online.
In one of the largest business linkage opportunities at the event, China's Great Wall Motor, which will be starting automobile production in Thailand next year, met with Thailand-based suppliers and part makers in a conference organised by the BOI. Taking advantage of Thailand's comprehensive supply chain in the automotive sector, Great Wall told part makers at the event that it plans to ramp up local content from 45 percent next year to as much as 90 percent within five years.
"Despite COVID-19 and travel restriction for foreign visitors, the show was a big hit and successfully delivered business opportunity, business linkage and business collaboration between exhibitors, buyers, and entrepreneurs," Informa Markets said on its website in a statement about the 2020 edition of Intermach and Subcon.
The next edition of the shows will be held from 12-15 May 2021, the organisers said.