Share of Thai Industry Codes With a Net Loss by Section 2026
In short
Agriculture has the most loss-making industry codes in Thailand: 49 of 79 codes, or 62.03 percent, post a combined net loss as of 17 July 2026. Human health follows at 52.94 percent. Other services sit at 50 percent. Across all sections, 279 of 1,005 codes, or 27.76 percent, lose money. Financial and professional services are the safest, at 15.79 and 10.34 percent.
Which Thai industry sections have the most loss-making codes?
Agriculture, forestry and fishing, by a wide margin. Of its 79 five-digit codes with at least ten reporting companies, 49 lose money when their filers are added together (DBD, 2026). That is 62.03 percent. Human health and social work comes second at 52.94 percent, then other service activities at 50 percent, then information and communication at 47.06 percent. At the safe end, professional, scientific and technical services has just 3 losing codes out of 29, or 10.34 percent. Across the whole economy, 279 of 1,005 qualifying codes sit in the red.
Share of 5-digit codes with a combined net loss, by section
- Agriculture, forestry and fishing62
- Human health and social work53
- Other service activities50
- Information and communication47
- Arts, entertainment and recreation47
- Real estate43
- Mining and quarrying42
- Accommodation and food service42
- Education36
- Water supply and waste management36
- Transportation and storage23
- Manufacturing21
- Administrative and support20
- Construction19
- Wholesale and retail trade18
- Financial and insurance16
- Electricity and gas14
- Professional, scientific and technical10
Figures in percent of codes.
Codes with fewer than ten reporting companies are excluded so one firm cannot decide a code's sign. Sections O, T and U have too few codes to rank.
Loss-making codes and section margin side by side
| Industry section | Qualifying codes | Codes in loss | Share in loss | Section net margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agriculture, forestry and fishing | 79 | 49 | 62.03% | 2.55% |
| Human health and social work | 17 | 9 | 52.94% | 11.07% |
| Other service activities | 24 | 12 | 50.00% | 0.37% |
| Information and communication | 51 | 24 | 47.06% | 5.81% |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | 17 | 8 | 47.06% | -1.09% |
| Real estate | 7 | 3 | 42.86% | 7.69% |
| Mining and quarrying | 19 | 8 | 42.11% | 14.03% |
| Accommodation and food service | 19 | 8 | 42.11% | 5.65% |
| Education | 22 | 8 | 36.36% | 13.13% |
| Water supply and waste management | 14 | 5 | 35.71% | 7.31% |
| Transportation and storage | 56 | 13 | 23.21% | 6.27% |
| Manufacturing | 368 | 78 | 21.20% | 4.38% |
| Administrative and support | 44 | 9 | 20.45% | 4.33% |
| Construction | 27 | 5 | 18.52% | 2.31% |
| Wholesale and retail trade | 167 | 30 | 17.96% | 1.27% |
| Financial and insurance | 38 | 6 | 15.79% | 25.4% |
| Electricity and gas | 7 | 1 | 14.29% | 11.86% |
| Professional, scientific and technical | 29 | 3 | 10.34% | 13.64% |
Codes with at least ten reporting companies, ranked by share in aggregate loss, with the section-wide net margin for comparison, as of 17 Jul 2026.
Where the section margin hides the damage
Human health earns an 11.07 percent section margin, one of the best in the country. Yet 9 of its 17 qualifying codes lose money. Strong profit in some codes is masking losses in many others. Information and communication tells the same story, with a healthy 5.81 percent margin and 24 of 51 codes in the red. Arts and entertainment is different, because its whole section runs at a negative 1.09 percent margin. Agriculture is the sharpest case of weakness running wide, with a thin 2.55 percent margin and most of its codes losing money.
Why this matters
A section margin is a single number, and it is dominated by whoever is biggest. Counting codes asks a different question: how many corners of an industry work at all. A lender, supplier or investor looking at health or digital services should not assume a strong headline means a safe niche. In health, more than half the niches lose money, and in digital services nearly half do. The reverse holds too. Wholesale and retail has a very thin 1.27 percent margin, yet only 17.96 percent of its codes post a loss. Low margin and broad weakness are different problems, and this count separates them.
Definitions
- TSIC code
- The five-digit Thailand Standard Industrial Classification code for a company's main activity. Codes roll up into lettered sections.
- Aggregate net margin
- Total net profit divided by total revenue across all reporting companies in a group, rather than an average of firm margins.
- Loss-making code
- A 5-digit code whose reporting companies together have negative net profit.
- Qualifying code
- A code with at least ten companies that filed a financial statement.
Assumptions
- Only companies that filed a financial statement contribute to a code's margin.
- A few large firms can swing a small code, so codes below ten reporters are excluded.
- Loss in one reporting period does not imply a permanent weakness.
- Five-digit code names are unavailable in the registry extract, so codes are described only by their parent section.
Methodology
Source: Department of Business Development registry aggregates, with the most recent rows computed 17 July 2026. For each 5-digit TSIC code, the aggregate net margin is total net profit divided by total revenue across companies that filed a financial statement. A code counts as loss-making when that figure is below zero. Only codes with at least ten reporting companies are counted, giving 1,005 of 1,228 codes. Codes are grouped into their parent TSIC section. Sections with no code reaching ten reporters are not ranked. Section margins come from the section-level table. Results are descriptive aggregates and not forecasts.
How we verified this
- Loss-making codes across the 18 ranked sections sum to 279 and qualifying codes sum to 1,005, matching the national totals from a separate whole-table count.
- National share recomputed: 279 / 1,005 = 27.76 percent.
- Agriculture recomputed: 49 / 79 = 62.03 percent.
- Human health recomputed: 9 / 17 = 52.94 percent. Other services: 12 / 24 = 50.00 percent.
- Information and communication recomputed: 24 / 51 = 47.06 percent. Arts and entertainment: 8 / 17 = 47.06 percent.
- Professional services recomputed: 3 / 29 = 10.34 percent. Financial and insurance: 6 / 38 = 15.79 percent. Wholesale and retail: 30 / 167 = 17.96 percent.
- Source rows carry computed_at 17 July 2026, newer than the 7 July anchors in the data guide, so live values were used and section margins differ slightly from earlier pages.
References
- Department of Business Development. (2026). Registered juristic persons and financial statement aggregates. Ministry of Commerce, Thailand. https://www.dbd.go.th/
Frequently asked questions
Which Thai industry section has the most loss-making codes?
Agriculture, forestry and fishing, where 49 of 79 qualifying codes, or 62.03 percent, have a combined net loss as of 17 July 2026.
What share of Thai industry codes lose money overall?
279 of 1,005 codes with at least ten reporting companies, or 27.76 percent.
Can a profitable section still have many loss-making codes?
Yes. Human health earns an 11.07 percent section margin, yet 9 of its 17 qualifying codes are in aggregate loss.
Does a loss-making code mean every company in it loses money?
No. It means the combined net profit of its reporting companies is negative. Individual firms in the same code can be profitable.
Cite this page
Chatpong L. (2026). Share of Thai Industry Codes With a Net Loss by Section 2026. Max Data Insights. https://maxdatathailand.com/insights/share-of-thai-industry-codes-with-a-net-loss-in-each-section-2026
Data & corrections
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Written by
Chatpong L.Founder, Max Data, Max Solutions Co., Ltd.
Chatpong L. leads Max Data, a company-intelligence platform built on Thailand's official business registry. He writes about the structure of the Thai economy using primary registry data. His work covers company formation, industry concentration, and regional business activity.
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This page reports company-level and aggregate statistics only. It names no individuals and makes no claims about any person. Figures are provided for information and may be revised as source data updates.