The Thai government is looking at setting up the kingdom's first catastrophe-risk fund to ensure compensation for businesses after future disasters and funding for restoration after any such event.

The flood aftermath and fast-changing consumer behavior in the digital community have created opportunities for businesses while phasing out those that are uncompetitive and outdated. The Nation's Business Desk reports on this year's expected market trends in products and services in Thailand.

Japan's industrial output shriveled in November, figures showed Wednesday, as flooding in Thailand added to woes for companies already battling a strong yen and the global economic chill.

Honda Automobile (Thailand) Co. Ltd. on Tuesday began destroying 1,055 cars that were damaged in this year's floods while vowing to continue manufacturing in the kingdom.

Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has set an aggressive plan for next year to strengthen local firms' competitiveness through the capital |market, aiming at small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in such high-potential sectors as hotel, hospital and alternative energy to brace for AEC's single market.

A delegation of Taiwanese bankers will visit Thailand this week to offer help to both Taiwanese and local businesses that were hit by the floods. The assistance will include low-interest loans for business restoration, said Gary Yang, director of the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry (TAMI).

Thailand's government will seek cabinet approval this week for a 350-billion-baht (US$11.12 billion) budget for infrastructure and water management to prevent a repeat of the country's recent flood crisis, a top official said on Saturday.

Thailand exports in November dived for the first time in more than two years because of the kingdom's devastating recent flooding, government data showed Tuesday.

Taiwan increased its holdings of U.S. Treasury securities by US$800 million to just over US$150 billion in October, making it the seventh-largest foreign creditor of the United States, according to the latest report released by the U.S. Treasury Department.

No longer only a manufacturing hub for Japanese clothing companies, Thailand is becoming a center for raw materials and design, thanks to high competency for high-tech production and added-value creativity.