Thailand's Board of Investment (BOI) report shows that in 2019, China surpassed Japan for the first time with an investment of 290 billion baht to become Thailand's largest source of foreign investment.
Japan monopolized for nearly half a century
Japan and the United States have long been Thailand's leading sources of foreign investment. Especially in Japan, data show that from the 80s to 1996, Japan topped the list of foreign capital source countries in Thailand, and at the highest time, it once accounted for 80% of foreign capital sources.
Since 2015, Chinese investment in Thailand has increased year by year. The increase in investment is natural and natural, so why say so? Because since 2013, China has been Thailand's largest trading partner, Chinese capital has long begun to deploy in Thailand, and in the past two years, it has begun to explode intensively.
In the early days, the core of Japan was to build a complete industrial chain of automobile production in Thailand, becoming the supply center of the Japanese automobile industry, and Japan also invested heavily in household appliances, food industry, chemicals, machinery and other fields.
Therefore, in the streets of Thailand, Japanese cars and motorcycles almost monopolize the Thai market, and Thai families are all Japanese brand home appliances.
Twenty years ago, automobiles and home appliances were Japan's strong point, and it was understandable that it could run amok in the Thai market. But this situation has quietly changed in the past decade.
With an influx of 10 million tourists every year, "Hello" sweeps Thailand
Since 2011, the number of tourists to Thailand has shown explosive growth, especially the success of the movie "Thailand".
A few details can feel the intentions of Thailand in order to welcome and entertain the rich "uncle", one is that the ATMs of major banks in Thailand quietly removed the Japanese and replaced it with Chinese; Second, airports, bus stations, hotels, and attractions have more and more Chinese signs, and even the audio of attractions introduction has a special Chinese; Third, Alipay and WeChat are extremely convenient. If you know you are Chinese during the trip, the friendly Thai people will say "hello" to you. Of course, this is also due to the fact that Hanban has been sending hundreds of Chinese teachers to Thailand every year for more than a decade.
Chinese e-commerce has changed the habits of Thais
Generation difference is opportunity.
Chinese Internet giants began to copy homework with "Beautiful Country" 20 years ago, and began to build a "China model" in combination with China's national conditions more than 10 years ago, and in the past 3 years, Douyin has begun to sweep the world, including Thailand. From the development of e-commerce, China and Thailand have a significant generation gap, so Internet giants have long focused on the layout of Thailand's online platforms, logistics, finance and other aspects.
Alibaba-backed Lazada is now Thailand's number one e-commerce platform. JD.com and Central Group, Thailand's largest retail company, jointly created JD Thailand, which is now the fastest growing e-commerce channel in the Thai retail market.
Image source network: Thailand's JD e-commerce
The number of TikTok ASEAN users exceeded 240 million, and TikTok Shop has added three new sites in Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia, and is now open for sellers.
At the same time, domestic brands represented by Haier and Gree have become the preferred Chinese brands of Thai consumers through many years of e-commerce operation experience in China and the brand foundation laid in Thailand. According to relevant data, the sales of Haier major appliances on Thailand's mainstream e-commerce platform increased by 140% year-on-year, ranking second, among which Haier refrigerators and air conditioners ranked first.
Compared with the layout of the Internet such as Facebook in Thailand, Chinese e-commerce has formed a perfect ecology, and they are still in the era of personal sales in Thailand.
The "China model" represented by electric vehicles and high-speed rail targets the whole of Southeast Asia
Since the 80s of the last century, Japan's investment in Thailand has been represented by the fuel automobile industry, chemical industry, rail transit and other fields, and the current Chinese investment has opened up a new era.
In addition to e-commerce, China's high-speed rail and Japan are fiercely fighting. Japan lent money to the Thai government to build Thailand's first urban rail transit system, and now China's high-speed railway has successfully won Thailand's first high-speed rail with the natural advantages of cost and geographical location, and it is expected that the first phase of the Thailand-China high-speed railway project connecting Bangkok and Korat will be opened to traffic in 2026, and will be connected to high-speed rail with China and Laos in 2029, when it will be realized to take the high-speed rail to Thailand.
In addition, Chinese capital opened a feast of hunting Japanese cars to Japan's monopoly industry in Thailand, automobiles.
Because, the "green whirlwind" of China's new energy vehicles is sweeping Thailand. In 2022, the number of new energy vehicles exported from China to Thailand has reached a record high, with a total of about 59,375 units exported from January to September this year, an increase of 176% over the same period in 2021. Six Chinese automakers joined Thailand's EV incentive program. Among them, BYD, Great Wall Motor and SAIC have built factories in Thailand.
Before Chinese car companies entered the Thai market, the entire Thai market was monopolized by Japanese cars, and even American cars could not compete. According to 2019 data, the seven Japanese car companies accounted for 86% of Thailand's sedan market share, of which Toyota, Isuzu and Honda accounted for 32%, 16% and 13% respectively.
Thailand has a complete mature automotive industry chain, low labor costs, skilled technology, perfect infrastructure, very suitable for the development of the automotive industry, Chinese electric vehicles aim at Thailand, radiation throughout Southeast Asia. It can be said that winning Thailand means winning the Southeast Asian market.
Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river. It perfectly explains the differences in the times between Japan and China in investing in industrial investment in Southeast Asia. When I first arrived in Thailand in 2009, it was almost impossible to see a car other than a Japanese brand on the busy road from the airport to the hotel, hoping that in the future, I looked out the window and sighed: Where did the Japanese car go?