Thai Industry Filer Growth Is Braking in 2026
In short
Not one of Thailand's 18 filing industry sections is speeding up, as of 14 August 2026. All 18 grew filers more slowly in the latest year than their own three year pace. Wholesale and retail trade's filer base rose 3.9 percent from 2022 to 2025 yet fell 2.4 percent in 2025 alone. Manufacturing's filer count dropped 3.8 percent in 2025, well past its three year pace of 0.2 percent decline a year. Seven sections flipped from a rising three year trend into a single year decline.
Which industry sections are speeding up on filer growth, and which are braking
Line up each section's latest single year change in filing companies against its own three year trend and the answer is stark. Zero of Thailand's 18 measurable industry sections grew their filer base faster in 2025 than their three year average pace suggested (DBD, 2026). Every section braked. The degree of braking is what separates them into three groups. Seven sections still show a positive three year trend on paper but tipped into an outright decline in the latest year alone. Wholesale and retail trade is the biggest of these by far, with 235,485 filing companies in 2025. That base grew 3.9 percent from 226,735 companies in 2022. Yet it lost 5,892 filers between 2024 and 2025 alone, a drop of 2.4 percent in a single year. Real estate, professional and technical services, and administrative and support services show the same pattern at smaller scale. A second group of four sections was already shrinking over three years and is now shrinking faster still. Manufacturing's filer count fell 3.8 percent in 2025 alone, well past its three year annualized pace of just 0.2 percent a year of decline. Construction, transportation and storage, and mining and quarrying sit in the same bracket. A third group of seven sections is still adding filers, just more slowly than before, led by arts and entertainment at 2.7 percent growth in the latest year against a much steeper three year climb.
Latest year change in filing companies, by industry section
- Agriculture, forestry and fishing-6
- Transportation and storage-5
- Construction-5
- Water supply and waste management-4
- Manufacturing-4
- Mining and quarrying-3
- Wholesale and retail trade-2
- Information and communication-2
- Administrative and support-2
- Professional, scientific and technical-0
- Real estate-0
- Other service activities0
- Accommodation and food service1
- Electricity and gas1
- Education2
- Human health and social work2
- Financial and insurance2
- Arts, entertainment and recreation3
Figures in percent change, 2024 to 2025.
Every bar sits below that section's own three year pace. Sections furthest to the left already had a shrinking filer base over three years. Sections in the middle look healthy on a three year view but just turned negative.
Filing companies by industry section, three year trend versus latest year
| Industry section | Filers 2022 | Filers 2025 | Three year change | Latest year change | Pattern |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agriculture, forestry and fishing | 7,407 | 7,541 | 1.8% | -5.7% | Reversed to decline |
| Transportation and storage | 28,861 | 28,682 | -0.6% | -4.7% | Decline getting worse |
| Construction | 77,121 | 75,263 | -2.4% | -4.6% | Decline getting worse |
| Water supply and waste management | 1,983 | 2,066 | 4.2% | -4.0% | Reversed to decline |
| Manufacturing | 82,931 | 82,520 | -0.5% | -3.8% | Decline getting worse |
| Mining and quarrying | 1,988 | 1,952 | -1.8% | -2.9% | Decline getting worse |
| Wholesale and retail trade | 226,735 | 235,485 | 3.9% | -2.4% | Reversed to decline |
| Information and communication | 20,294 | 21,057 | 3.8% | -1.8% | Reversed to decline |
| Administrative and support | 36,037 | 39,130 | 8.6% | -1.8% | Reversed to decline |
| Professional, scientific and technical | 54,581 | 60,635 | 11.1% | -0.3% | Reversed to decline |
| Real estate | 66,392 | 75,896 | 14.3% | -0.1% | Reversed to decline |
| Other service activities | 6,661 | 8,287 | 24.4% | 0.4% | Still growing, slower |
| Accommodation and food service | 28,530 | 34,566 | 21.2% | 1.0% | Still growing, slower |
| Electricity and gas | 3,189 | 3,398 | 6.6% | 1.2% | Still growing, slower |
| Education | 4,876 | 5,870 | 20.4% | 1.9% | Still growing, slower |
| Human health and social work | 6,960 | 9,243 | 32.8% | 1.9% | Still growing, slower |
| Financial and insurance | 14,421 | 16,332 | 13.3% | 2.0% | Still growing, slower |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | 5,189 | 6,234 | 20.1% | 2.7% | Still growing, slower |
Filing companies are the count of companies in each section with a filed financial statement for that statement year. Figures as of 14 Aug 2026.
Why a braking filer base matters more than a growing one
A rising three year trend line hides a lot if the last twelve months already turned down. Wholesale and retail trade alone carries 235,485 filing companies, more than any other section. Its 2.4 percent drop in the latest year removes almost 5,900 companies from the active filing base in a single year, more than the entire filer count of mining and quarrying. Manufacturing's shift matters for a different reason. Its three year trend already pointed slightly down, at just 0.2 percent a year. A sudden 3.8 percent single year drop is not a mild continuation. It is a sharp change of speed that a three year average would completely miss. Anyone reading a five year or three year growth chart and assuming the direction holds today is reading the wrong period. The freshest year is where the turn shows up first, and in 2025 every section's freshest year was worse than its own recent past. That is a broader signal about credit, demand or compliance conditions across the whole company register, not a quirk of one industry.
Definitions
- Filing company
- A company that submitted a financial statement to the DBD for a given statement year. This differs from total registered companies, which includes companies that never file or have gone dormant.
- Statement year
- The fiscal year a filed financial statement covers. Source data records this in the Buddhist calendar, so it is converted to the Gregorian calendar throughout this page.
- Three year annualized pace
- The compound annual growth rate of a section's filer count from 2022 to 2025, calculated as the cube root of the 2025 to 2022 ratio minus one.
- Latest year change
- The percentage change in a section's filer count from statement year 2024 to statement year 2025.
- Braking
- A section's latest year change is smaller than its own three year annualized pace, whether or not either figure is positive.
- Reversed section
- A section with a positive three year trend that nonetheless posted a decline in filers in the latest single year.
Assumptions
- Filing company counts are a proxy for business activity and formal survival, not a direct count of new incorporations or closures.
- A section's 2025 count can be affected by companies that fell behind on filing as well as by companies that formally dissolved, and this data cannot separate the two.
- Sections O, public administration, T, households, and U, extraterritorial bodies, are excluded because they carry effectively no registered filing companies in this database.
- The incomplete 2026 statement year is excluded from every figure on this page.
- Section totals are built by rolling up five digit TSIC codes to their parent section. A small number of filers each year, roughly 1,100 to 1,200 companies, carry a TSIC code that does not roll up cleanly to one of the 18 measured sections and are excluded from every section total on this page, a known and minor gap against the whole economy total.
Methodology
Filing companies are counted from the DBD registry as the number of companies in each of Thailand's 18 measurable industry sections that filed a financial statement for a given statement year, aggregated from 5 digit industry codes up to their parent section, as of 14 August 2026. Statement years are converted from the Buddhist calendar used in the source data, so statement year 2568 is calendar year 2025. The three year change compares 2022 filers to 2025 filers. The three year annualized pace is the compound annual growth rate over that same span. The latest year change compares 2024 filers to 2025 filers. The three sections O, T and U, public administration, households and extraterritorial bodies, carry effectively no registered filing companies and are excluded. The incomplete 2026 statement year, with only a few thousand filings recorded so far, is excluded from every calculation.
How we verified this
- Wholesale and retail trade three year change recomputed as 235485 minus 226735, divided by 226735, times 100, equals 3.86 percent, rounded to 3.9 percent.
- Wholesale and retail trade latest year change recomputed as 235485 minus 241377, divided by 241377, times 100, equals negative 2.44 percent, rounded to negative 2.4 percent.
- Manufacturing latest year change recomputed as 82520 minus 85743, divided by 85743, times 100, equals negative 3.76 percent, rounded to negative 3.8 percent.
- Manufacturing three year annualized pace recomputed as the cube root of 82520 divided by 82931, minus 1, times 100, equals negative 0.17 percent, rounded to negative 0.2 percent.
- All 18 section filer counts for statement year 2565 sum to 674,156 and for statement year 2568 sum to 714,157, matching the total company count summed directly from the underlying five digit TSIC year table for those statement years. That total sits about 1,100 to 1,200 companies below the separate statement year total in the national year table, a known small gap traced to filers whose TSIC code does not roll up cleanly to one of the 18 measured sections, and every figure on this page uses the section rollup total consistently.
- Each of the 18 sections was checked individually and every one has a latest year percent change lower than its own three year annualized pace, confirming the zero of 18 accelerating claim.
- Sections were split into three groups by sign, three year trend positive with latest year negative gives seven sections, both negative gives four sections, both positive gives seven sections, and seven plus four plus seven equals 18.
References
- Department of Business Development. (2026). Registered juristic persons and financial statement aggregates. Ministry of Commerce, Thailand. https://www.dbd.go.th/
- Bangkok Post. (2025, February 7). Thai factory closures likely to worsen. https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/general/2956341/thai-factory-closures-likely-to-worsen
Frequently asked questions
Is any Thai industry section's filer growth actually speeding up in 2026?
No. All 18 measurable industry sections added filing companies more slowly in the latest year than their own three year pace, based on DBD data as of 14 August 2026.
Did wholesale and retail trade's filer base grow or shrink?
Both, depending on the window. It grew 3.9 percent from 2022 to 2025, but it shrank 2.4 percent in 2025 alone, a loss of 5,892 filing companies in one year.
Is manufacturing's filer decline new or has it been going on for years?
It has been mild for years, averaging just 0.2 percent decline a year over the three years to 2025, but it accelerated sharply to a 3.8 percent drop in 2025 alone.
Which industry sections are still adding filing companies?
Seven sections grew their filer base in 2025, led by arts and entertainment at 2.7 percent, financial and insurance at 2.0 percent, and human health and social work at 1.9 percent, though all seven grew more slowly than their own three year average.
Cite this page
Chatpong L. (2026). Thai Industry Filer Growth Is Braking in 2026. Max Data Insights. https://maxdatathailand.com/insights/thai-industry-sections-filer-growth-is-braking-2026
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.