Impact and opportunity in Thailand's industrial sector following the COVID-19 Global health crisis.
SUMMARY
- E-commerce purchases up 80% in February from previous month, driving demand for fulfillment centres.
- Manufacturing and production will be down countrywide through Q1 and Q2.
- Manufacturers looking to expedite plans to automate their production lines to ensure operations through crises.
- Transactional liquidity will likely increase due to firms seeking to offload poor performing assets or due to bankruptcy.
The global COVID-19 pandemic has led to the fastest arising real estate crisis seen since the Great Recession (2008). Manufacturers and operators have faced material supply issues, due to the quarantine in China and are now currently being urged to close production lines as part of a national measure to reduce the spread of Coronavirus.
With the world economies at different stages in dealing with the pandemic, regardless of Thailand’s speed of recovery, there will likely be both supply and demand side issues until the major international markets have stabilized. However, opportunities are still present for firms which can adapt to fulfill the requirements of ‘housebound households’.