Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2663 actions· ✨ 89 recent

Thailand's Subcommittee on Anti-Dumping and Countervailing Duties (under the Department of Foreign Trade, Ministry of Commerce) issued a final affirmative anti-dumping determination on 24 November 2025, imposing definitive duties of 5.12%–21.94% CIF on imports of aluminium extrusions (profiles, bars, rods, and structural sections) originating in China. The measure covers eight HS subheadings (7604 and 7610 series) and remains in force for five years from the date of Gazette publication. The investigation was initiated on 16 July 2024 following a domestic-industry petition from Thai aluminium extruders competing against surging Chinese imports.

Thailand's Cabinet approved a THB 2,459.97 million (approx. USD 71 million) investment for the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) to procure 946 new bogie freight container flatcars, to be assembled domestically using a mix of local and imported components. The new cars replace ageing rolling stock and expand freight capacity by over 9 million tonnes annually, supporting SRT's 2023-2027 strategic plan and the dual-track rail expansion programme. Approved at the Cabinet meeting of 2025-08-05.

Thailand's Board of Investment issued Notification No. Sor. 5/2568 (5/2025), dated 5 June 2025, amending the Schedule of Investment-Promoted Activities under BOI Notification No. 9/2565 across roughly 32 activity categories, including machinery and automotive, electrical appliances and electronics, metals and materials, public utilities, digital, and creative industries. The revision extends standard BOI tax and import-duty investment-promotion incentives to accumulator/battery-cell manufacturing activities within these categories, while discontinuing promoted status for metal-cutting activities (Category 5.4.10). The notification applies to investment- promotion applications submitted on or after 1 July 2025, and was later published in the Royal Gazette on 22 January 2026.

Thailand's Board of Investment issued Announcement No. Por. 8/2568, dated 20 May 2025, setting new criteria for approving foreign-worker positions, placing foreign staff into approved positions, and extending position/ personnel terms under Sections 25-26 of the Investment Promotion Act. The announcement requires BOI-promoted manufacturing projects with more than 100 employees to keep Thai nationals at 70% or more of the workforce (verified via Social Security filings), and sets minimum monthly salary floors for foreign hires (THB 150,000 for executives, THB 75,000 for managers/specialists, reduced to THB 50,000 with a relevant degree). It replaces the prior Por. 3/2567 announcement (9 August 2024).

On 26 July 2024 the Thai National Electric Vehicle Policy Committee (EV Board), chaired by Deputy PM Pichai Chunhavajira, approved a dedicated excise-tax incentive package for hybrid-electric-vehicle (HEV, ≤ 10-seat passenger) manufacturing distinct from the BEV-only EV 3.5 regime. Qualifying manufacturers receive a locked excise rate of 6% on HEVs emitting ≤ 100 g CO2/km and 9% on 101-120 g CO2/km vehicles for the 2028-2032 period, conditional on a minimum new investment of THB 3 billion during 2024-2027, BOI approval, mandatory use of key Thai-produced parts, and inclusion of at least four of six listed ADAS safety features. The measure is expected to draw THB 50 billion (~USD 1.4 billion) in additional HEV manufacturing investment and is positioned as the intermediate-emission complement to EV 3.5's BEV-only purchase subsidies and 2% excise rate, extending Thailand's "EV Hub of ASEAN" industrial strategy to capture Japanese OEM hybrid-platform capex (Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Mazda) alongside the Chinese-OEM BEV wave already locked in under EV 3.5. The decision required separate Cabinet endorsement and was published via the BOI /EV-Board channel rather than amending the EV 3.5 instrument.

On 19 December 2023, the Thai Cabinet endorsed the second phase of the national electric-vehicle support programme ("EV 3.5") covering 2024-2027, following its approval by the National Electric Vehicle Policy Committee. The Excise Department published the implementing Notification on 28 December 2023; the regime entered into force on 1 January 2024. EV 3.5 combines (i) per-vehicle purchase subsidies of THB 50,000-100,000 for battery-electric passenger cars and pick-ups, (ii) a reduction in excise duty on BEV passenger cars priced ≤ THB 7 million from 8% to 2%, and (iii) up to 40% import-duty relief on Completely Built-Up (CBU) BEV passenger cars priced ≤ THB 2 million during 2024-2025. Participating OEMs must offset CBU imports with domestic Thai production at a 1:2 ratio by end-2026 and 1:3 by end-2027, or face clawback of the granted incentives. The package is the operational successor to EV 3.0 (2022-2023) and was designed to lock in the wave of Chinese-OEM gigafactory and assembly investment that EV 3.0 attracted (BYD Rayong, MG/SAIC, GAC AION, Great Wall Motor, NETA, Changan, Chery). By the August 2025 EV-Board meeting Thailand had logged > THB 137 billion in approved EV-supply-chain investment under the combined EV 3.0 + EV 3.5 envelope. EV 3.5 is the central instrument in Thailand's "EV Hub of ASEAN" industrial strategy and the principal regional competitor to Indonesia's nickel-anchored EV-cluster bid and Vietnam's Decree 182 investment-support fund.

On 8 December 2022 the Thai Board of Investment issued Announcement No. 8/2565 "Policies and Criteria for Investment Promotion", setting Thailand's five-year (2023-2027) horizontal investment-promotion strategy. The Announcement entered into force from 8:30 a.m. on 3 January 2023 and applies to all investment-promotion applications filed with the BOI from that date. The strategy reorients Thailand's investment regime around three core concepts — (i) innovation, technology and creativity, (ii) competitiveness and rapid adaptability, and (iii) inclusiveness, including environmental and social sustainability — and is operationalised through seven pillars: industrial transition to BCG (Bio-Circular-Green) / smart industries, regional-hub positioning (EV, electronics, food, medical, aviation, automation), supply-chain strengthening, technology upgrading, SME competitiveness, sustainable development, and BCG-economy alignment. Incentives are structured into Group A (corporate-income-tax exemption for 3-13 years, with Group A1+ activities — frontier-technology semiconductors, advanced biotech, certain EV components — receiving up to 10-13 years CIT exemption with no cap) and Group B (non-tax incentives only). Fundamental eligibility criteria carried over from prior regimes: minimum THB 1 million investment, new-machinery requirement, 20% annual revenue-growth projection, and a 3:1 debt-to-equity threshold. The 8 December 2022 release was accompanied by 16 additional implementing announcements (Announcements 9/2565 to 24/2565) covering specific activity lists and merit-based incentives. This is the umbrella framework under which Thailand's subsequent sector-specific BOI instruments operate — the EV 3.5 package (2023-12-19, effective 2024-01-01), the EV Board HEV manufacturing excise incentives (2024-07-26), and the National Semiconductor and Advanced Electronics Industry Strategy (2026-01-07) all sit inside this 2023-2027 investment-promotion regime.