Honda predicts fall of motorcycle sales in Thai market
Japanese motorcycle manufacturer Honda Motor Co has forecast that its sales in the Thai market will fall in 2019 due to a drop in the prices of agricultural products.
Motorcycles are displayed at the Bangkok Motorbike Festival on February 19, 2019 (Source: bangkokpost.com)
Hanoi (VNA) – Japanese motorcycle manufacturerHonda Motor Co has forecast that its sales in the Thai market will fall in 2019due to a drop in the prices of agricultural products.
൲ New motorcycle salesin 2019 are predicted to drop 3.9 percent year on year to 1.72 million units,Suchart Arunsaengroj, Vice President of AP Honda Co, the company's Thai salessubsidiary, told reporters last week. The forecast is unchanged from itsJanuary projection.
The baht's depreciationagainst the dollar leads to fluctuations in exports and lower prices inagricultural products, resulting in declining purchasing power among farmers,the main purchasers of motorcycles, he said. The local unit, whichholds nearly an 80 percent share of Southeast Asia's third-largest motorcyclemarket, smaller only than Indonesia and Vietnam, saw its first drop in annualsales in three years in 2018 to 1.4 million units, down 1.4 percent from theprevious year. The US-China tradewar loomed over the Thai economy in addition to low produce prices and aslowdown in tourism, Yoichi Mizutani, president of the subsidiary, said inJanuary. Despite thechallenges, coupled with political uncertainty stemming from the upcomingelection on March 24, the firm posted a 0.7 percent year-on-year sales increasein the family-use segment in the first two months of this year to 154,000units. But it suffered a22.5 percent plunge in sales in the sport model segment to 31,000 units overthe same period, Arunsaengroj said at a press conference. Some analysts predictthat these economic challenges will persist throughout 2019. Agricultural products' prices andfarmers' incomes are showing no clear improvement, with prices of somesignificant products like palm oil falling, according to the latest report fromthe Office of Agricultural Economics.-VNA
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Motorcycles are displayed at the Bangkok Motorbike Festival on February 19, 2019 (Source: bangkokpost.com) 
