719 factory closures in 2020 ‘not so bad’

A total of 719 industrial factories went out of business last year, citing the economic impacts of the Covid-19 outbreak and causing 30,000 workers to lose their jobs, says the Department of Industrial Works.

On the flipside, as many as 3,324 factories were either created or expanded last year, which created as many as 187,088 jobs, said Prakob Vivitjinda, director-general of the department.

As the opening and expansion of these factories involved 325 billion baht in total investments, the combined investment value of those 719 factories which stopped operating last year was only 41.7 billion baht, he said.

Food manufacturers dominated the factories that opened or the existing ones that expanded last year, he said.

With a substantial difference in the economic situation last year compared to 2019, the actual drop in the number of factories (when counted together…