Thai Industry Codes Profitable Every Year 2015 to 2025
In short
Of 932 Thai 5-digit industry codes with a full 11-year record, 407 never posted a net loss in any year from 2015 to 2025. That is 43.7 percent. Another 104 codes lost money in just one year. Only 18 codes, 1.9 percent, lost money in all eleven. Professional services came closest to a clean sheet, while accommodation and arts had none.
How many industry codes never lost money in a decade?
Of 932 five-digit industry codes with a filed record in every year from 2015 to 2025, 407 never posted a net loss (DBD, 2026). That is 43.7 percent, or close to one code in every two. Here a code counts as profitable in a year when the combined net profit of all its filing companies is above zero. A further 104 codes lost money in exactly one year. At the far end, 18 codes lost money in all eleven years. The typical Thai industry code is not a graveyard and it is not a guarantee either. Most sit somewhere in between.
Number of loss years per industry code, 2015 to 2025
- 0 loss years407
- 1 loss year104
- 2 to 3 loss years156
- 4 to 6 loss years130
- 7 to 10 loss years117
- 11 loss years18
Figures in industry codes.
Codes are grouped by how many of the eleven years had a combined net loss. The clean group is the tallest bar by a wide margin.
Clean profit records by industry section
| Industry section | Codes with full record | Never lost money | Share clean |
|---|---|---|---|
| Professional, scientific and technical | 27 | 19 | 70.4% |
| Electricity and gas | 6 | 4 | 66.7% |
| Construction | 22 | 14 | 63.6% |
| Financial and insurance | 35 | 20 | 57.1% |
| Wholesale and retail trade | 163 | 91 | 55.8% |
| Real estate | 6 | 3 | 50.0% |
| Manufacturing | 361 | 180 | 49.9% |
| Administrative and support | 41 | 19 | 46.3% |
| Water supply and waste | 12 | 5 | 41.7% |
| Transportation and storage | 50 | 18 | 36.0% |
| Mining and quarrying | 18 | 6 | 33.3% |
| Human health and social work | 15 | 4 | 26.7% |
| Education | 21 | 5 | 23.8% |
| Information and communication | 48 | 9 | 18.8% |
| Other services | 22 | 4 | 18.2% |
| Agriculture | 55 | 6 | 10.9% |
| Accommodation and food service | 16 | 0 | 0.0% |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | 14 | 0 | 0.0% |
Industry codes with a full 11-year record and no loss year, grouped by section, 2015 to 2025 data computed 14 Aug 2026.
Where the spotless records cluster
Professional, scientific and technical services lead, with 19 of 27 codes never losing money. Utilities and construction follow above 63 percent. Manufacturing and wholesale and retail, the two biggest sections, sit near the middle at 49.9 and 55.8 percent. Then the floor falls away. Agriculture manages 10.9 percent. Accommodation and food service and arts and entertainment record zero clean codes among 30 combined, which is what a decade that included the 2020 and 2021 travel shutdowns would produce. Size also matters. Clean codes hold 1,154,193 registered companies, against 828,622 in codes with at least one loss year, so 58.2 percent of registered firms sit in a code with an unbroken profit record.
Why this matters
A founder or lender usually asks whether an industry is profitable. A better question is whether it has ever stopped being profitable. A thin average margin can hide a stable trade, and a fat margin can hide a code that swings into the red every third year. Counting loss years gives a plain resilience test that needs no model. It also corrects a common instinct. The sections people call safe, such as retail, are only a coin flip at code level, while quiet back-office specialisms in professional services and utilities hold up far better. Read your own five-digit code before you trust the section headline.
Definitions
- TSIC code
- Thailand Standard Industrial Classification. A five-digit code that assigns a company to a narrow line of business.
- Loss year
- A statement year in which all filing companies in an industry code together reported net profit below zero.
- Net profit
- Revenue minus all costs, interest and tax, as reported in a filed financial statement.
- Aggregate
- A combined total across every filing company in a group, not a company-by-company average.
Assumptions
- Only codes with a record in all eleven years are included. Codes with gaps, often small or new ones, are left out, so 932 is a subset of the 1,045 codes with any record in the period.
- Industry-year profit is a sum across filing companies, so one very large company can decide whether a small code is in profit or loss.
- Only companies that filed a statement are counted, and filing coverage grew over the period.
- A single baht of combined profit counts as profitable, so margin size is not considered.
Methodology
Source: Department of Business Development registry aggregates, with industry-year totals computed 14 August 2026 and code-level company counts computed 17 July 2026. For each 5-digit TSIC code, the combined net profit of all filing companies was taken for each statement year from 2015 to 2025, converted from the Buddhist year. Only codes with a record in all eleven years are counted, giving 932. A loss year is a year where the code's combined net profit is below zero. Partial 2026 data was excluded. Section grouping uses each code's parent section.
How we verified this
- Loss-year buckets sum to the full-record total: 407 + 104 + 156 + 130 + 117 + 18 = 932.
- Share with no loss year recomputed: 407 / 932 = 43.67 percent, shown as 43.7 percent.
- Share with all eleven years in loss recomputed: 18 / 932 = 1.93 percent, shown as 1.9 percent.
- Section code counts sum to 932 and section clean counts sum to 407 across the 18 sections shown.
- Professional services share recomputed: 19 / 27 = 70.4 percent. Agriculture: 6 / 55 = 10.9 percent.
- Company share in clean codes recomputed: 1,154,193 / 1,982,815 = 58.2 percent, where 1,982,815 = 1,154,193 + 828,622.
References
- Department of Business Development. (2026). Registered juristic persons and financial statement aggregates by TSIC code and year. Ministry of Commerce, Thailand. https://www.dbd.go.th/
Frequently asked questions
How many Thai industry codes never lost money between 2015 and 2025?
407 of 932 five-digit codes with a full 11-year record, or 43.7 percent, never had a combined net loss in any year.
Which sector has the most consistently profitable industry codes?
Professional, scientific and technical services, where 19 of 27 codes, 70.4 percent, never lost money.
Did any industry codes lose money every single year?
Yes. 18 codes, 1.9 percent of 932, posted a combined net loss in all eleven years.
Does a code with no loss year mean every company in it made money?
No. It means the combined profit of all filing companies in the code stayed above zero each year. Individual firms inside it can and do lose money.
Cite this page
Chatpong L. (2026). Thai Industry Codes Profitable Every Year 2015 to 2025. Max Data Insights. https://maxdatathailand.com/insights/thai-industry-codes-that-never-lost-money-in-any-year-2015-2025
Data & corrections
Download the data (CSV)Spot something off, or want to ask about the data? Email insights@maxsolutions.co.th. We publish corrections.
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.