Thailand Revives Industrial Policy to Attract New Investment

Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister Supachee Paaniruang outlined new industrial policies aimed at strengthening domestic manufacturing capacity and developing emerging industries known as the New S-Curve. The National Industrial Committee meeting, the first in four years, will integrate budgets and industrial strategy while identifying growth sectors such as biotechnology, digital technology and AI, modern vehicles, medical devices, and defence manufacturing.

The government will use state procurement to support Made in Thailand products in three strategic areas: defence manufacturing, public health and medical devices, and rail systems. All products must meet international standards. The Ministry of Industry will connect research, production, markets, and investment through upgraded small and medium enterprise programmes aligned with Made in Thailand standards set by the Federation of Thai Industries.

Deputy PM Supachee also announced support for bioenergy including biodiesel and ethanol, coordinating with the Finance Ministry to restructure excise tax structures for market balance and farmer benefit. On US trade negotiations under tariff provisions, approximately 72 percent of Thai goods have already secured exemptions, with ongoing talks for the remainder. Thailand will leverage over 20 billion dollars in private sector investment in the United States, plus planned additional investment of 5 billion dollars, as negotiating leverage to achieve trade balance. Further negotiations are scheduled for late August.

Industry Minister Weerawut Sil­pacharya said the ministry is updating the Manufacturing Production Index and capacity utilization rate from 2021 to 2024 to better reflect current Thai industrial structure and potential, particularly the rapid growth of advanced technology sectors including semiconductors and photonics technology.