Panasonic Group, the Japanese consumer electronics giant, wants to keep production in Thailand, but the final decision will depend on government efforts to improve infrastructure and flood prevention.
Panasonic operates 12 factories in Thailand and one flooded in Rojana Industrial Park and two more in Nava Nakorn.
Hirotaka Murakami, chief executive officer of Panasonic Group, said that since the floods began, the Thai operation has never raised the issue of withdrawal from Thailand with the parent firm.
Panasonic wants to see what the Thai government does about transportation, logistics and wages, he said at a press briefing yesterday.
"Rising wages is a concern. On one hand, higher wages can help drive the country's economy in the future. However, we do not want to see high inflation in the long term," he said.
Panasonic Group has been in Thailand for 50 years with 22 firms under its umbrella, 12 of them factories.
Total group sales for the current fiscal year ending next March 31 are expected to reach 100 billion baht, up by 20% from the previous year.
Floods have affected the production of Panasonic plugs, switches and hair driers, with damage still being assessed.
The group plans only minor investments in Thailand next year.
Yesterday it launched the Lumix GX1 and Lumix X Series lens, a new digital still camera and lens for professionals.
Pinyo Piromthan, the digital camera product manager at Panasonic Siew Sales (Thailand) Co, said his company expects to sell 5,000 units of the Lumix GX1 over the next few months.
He said mirror-less digital cameras have shown dynamic global growth. The market share of mirror-less digital cameras in Singapore is 25% of the total digital camera sales, rising to 34% in Japan and dipping to 11% in Europe.
About 1.35 million digital cameras will be sold this year in Thailand, of which 1.25 million units will be compacts, 92,000 units digital SLR and 18,000 units mirror-less digital cameras.
Sales of Panasonic Siew, covering audio-visual products, and Panasonic AP Sales, which sells home appliances such as air-conditioners and refrigerators, should reach 22 billion baht combined in the current fiscal year, up by 10% from last year.
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