Thai Industry Sections With High Margin and High Growth 2026
In short
Six of Thailand's 18 substantial industry sections beat both the 4.11 percent national net margin and the 66.35 percent national revenue growth rate since 2015, as of 17 July 2026. Education, human health, water supply, transportation, accommodation and administrative services make up that high margin, high growth group. Construction stands alone at the opposite pole, with a 2.31 percent margin and 28.39 percent growth, the only section that clears neither bar. Seven sections including finance and electricity keep wide margins on slower growth, and four sections including wholesale and retail trade grew fast on thin margins instead.
Which industry sections beat both bars?
Six of Thailand's 18 substantial industry sections clear both benchmarks at once, an aggregate net margin above 4.11 percent and revenue growth above 66.35 percent since 2015 (DBD, 2026). Education leads the group on margin at 13.13 percent, with 92.99 percent revenue growth. Water supply and waste management posts the fastest growth of the six at 129.01 percent, on a 7.31 percent margin. Human health and social work follows close behind at 116.54 percent growth and an 11.07 percent margin. Transportation and storage, accommodation and food service, and administrative and support services round out the group. Construction sits alone at the opposite pole. Its 2.31 percent margin and 28.39 percent revenue growth both fall under the national line, the only section among the 18 that clears neither bar. Seven sections, including financial and insurance at a 25.40 percent margin, keep wide margins while growing slower than the 66.35 percent national pace. Four sections, led by wholesale and retail trade's 136.39 percent revenue growth, expanded fast on thin margins instead.
Revenue growth by industry section, 2015 to 2025
- Wholesale and retail trade136
- Water supply and waste management129
- Other services124
- Human health and social work117
- Agriculture, forestry and fishing112
- Arts and entertainment100
- Accommodation and food service99
- Education93
- Transportation and storage68
- Administrative and support68
- Mining and quarrying46
- Electricity and gas46
- Professional, scientific and technical34
- Construction28
- Manufacturing25
- Information and communication12
- Real estate9
- Financial and insurance7
Figures in percent revenue growth.
The benchmark to picture is 66.35 percent, the aggregate revenue growth rate across all 18 sections. Ten sections clear it, eight do not.
Net margin, revenue growth and quadrant by industry section
| Industry section | Net margin | Revenue growth 2015 to 2025 | Quadrant |
|---|---|---|---|
| Education | 13.13% | 92.99% | High margin, high growth |
| Human health and social work | 11.07% | 116.54% | High margin, high growth |
| Water supply and waste management | 7.31% | 129.01% | High margin, high growth |
| Transportation and storage | 6.27% | 68.00% | High margin, high growth |
| Accommodation and food service | 5.65% | 99.43% | High margin, high growth |
| Administrative and support | 4.33% | 67.53% | High margin, high growth |
| Financial and insurance | 25.40% | 6.82% | High margin, low growth |
| Mining and quarrying | 14.03% | 45.70% | High margin, low growth |
| Professional, scientific and technical | 13.64% | 33.65% | High margin, low growth |
| Electricity and gas | 11.86% | 45.64% | High margin, low growth |
| Real estate | 7.69% | 9.48% | High margin, low growth |
| Information and communication | 5.81% | 11.75% | High margin, low growth |
| Manufacturing | 4.38% | 25.33% | High margin, low growth |
| Agriculture, forestry and fishing | 2.55% | 111.68% | Low margin, high growth |
| Wholesale and retail trade | 1.27% | 136.39% | Low margin, high growth |
| Other services | 0.37% | 123.73% | Low margin, high growth |
| Arts and entertainment | -1.09% | 100.40% | Low margin, high growth |
| Construction | 2.31% | 28.39% | Low margin, low growth |
Net margin, revenue growth since 2015 and quadrant placement for Thailand's 18 substantial industry sections, as of 17 Jul 2026.
Why the split matters
A high margin says a sector keeps a thick slice of every baht it earns. High growth says it is pulling in revenue faster than the rest of the economy. Most sections only manage one of the two. Financial and insurance banks a 25.40 percent margin but grew revenue just 6.82 percent over the decade, a mature, capital heavy business with little room left to expand. Wholesale and retail trade grew 136.39 percent, the fastest of any section, yet keeps only 1.27 percent of what it sells, the classic high volume, thin margin trade. The six sections that combine both traits share a common thread. Thailand's national accounts already show services holding 60.2 percent of GDP against industry's 31.3 percent (NESDC, 2025), and this split shows why. Education, human health, water supply, transportation, accommodation and administrative services sit closer to essential, recurring demand than to commodity trading, so providers keep pricing power even as they expand. Construction is the cautionary case. It carries 283,534 registered companies, the second most of any section after wholesale and retail trade, yet its margin and growth both trail the rest of the economy. New builders keep entering a market that is not growing fast enough to reward them.
Definitions
- Net margin
- Net profit as a share of revenue. A ten percent margin means ten satang of profit for every baht of revenue.
- Aggregate margin or growth
- A ratio built from the sum of every company's revenue and profit in a group, rather than the average of each company's own ratio. A handful of large companies can move an aggregate figure more than a simple average would.
- Revenue growth, 2015 to 2025
- The percentage change in a section's total reported revenue between the statement filed for the 2015 fiscal year and the statement filed for the 2025 fiscal year.
- Substantial section
- An industry section large enough to give a stable read on margin and growth. This analysis studies 18 of the 21 lettered TSIC sections and drops public administration, households as employers and extraterritorial organizations, each of which holds fewer than 40 registered companies.
- Quadrant
- One of four groups formed by crossing two above or below average splits, here net margin against revenue growth, so every section falls into high margin and high growth, high margin and low growth, low margin and high growth, or low margin and low growth.
Assumptions
- Revenue growth is drawn from 5 digit TSIC code statement data rolled up to the parent letter section, since sections themselves are not filed against directly.
- Both benchmark lines are whole group aggregate ratios, not the average of the 18 individual section ratios, matching how the site defines margin elsewhere.
- Only companies with a filed financial statement for the relevant year contribute to either the margin or the growth figures.
- The three excluded sections, public administration, households as employers and extraterritorial organizations, hold under 40 companies each and are too thin for a reliable decade long growth rate.
Methodology
Net margin here is aggregate net profit divided by aggregate revenue for each industry section, computed from companies with a filed financial statement in the DBD registry as of 17 July 2026. Revenue growth compares each section's aggregate revenue reported for statement year 2015 against statement year 2025, rolled up from 5 digit TSIC code totals to the parent section. The two benchmark lines are the same style of aggregate ratio applied across the wider group: a 4.11 percent net margin and 66.35 percent revenue growth computed over the 18 sections analyzed. Public administration, households as employers and extraterritorial organizations are left out because each holds fewer than 40 companies, too few for a stable growth read.
How we verified this
- Recomputed the margin benchmark as total net profit divided by total revenue across the 18 sections' full period aggregates: 3,291,520,620,009.48 over 80,074,864,520,317.38 gives 4.1106 percent, rounded to 4.11 percent, matching the database's own national net margin of 4.1057 percent within rounding.
- Recomputed the growth benchmark as the change in the 18 sections' combined statement year 2015 and 2025 revenue: (67,867,699,924,183.86 minus 40,799,178,507,988.26) divided by 40,799,178,507,988.26 gives 66.3458 percent, rounded to 66.35 percent.
- Counted quadrant membership: 6 high margin and high growth, 7 high margin and low growth, 4 low margin and high growth, 1 low margin and low growth, summing to 18 sections.
- Summed entity_count across the 18 sections to 1,986,415, which plus the 74 companies in the excluded public administration, households and extraterritorial sections equals 1,986,489, the database's total count of companies with a classified industry section.
- Confirmed each section's individual net margin against market_section_insight and each growth rate against the tsic_code level revenue for statement years 2558 and 2568 summed up to section_code, using the market_tsic_year_insight and market_tsic_insight tables.
- Ranked the six high margin, high growth sections by revenue growth rate and confirmed water supply and waste management's 129.01 percent is the highest of the six, ahead of human health and social work's 116.54 percent.
References
- Department of Business Development. (2026). Registered juristic persons and financial statement aggregates. Ministry of Commerce, Thailand. https://www.dbd.go.th/
- Office of the National Economic and Social Development Council. (2025). Thai economic performance in Q3 of 2025 and the outlook for 2025 to 2026. https://www.nesdc.go.th/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/05-PRESSENG-Q3-2568-Final-1.pdf
Frequently asked questions
Which Thai industry sections combine high margin and high growth since 2015?
Six sections clear both bars: education, human health and social work, water supply and waste management, transportation and storage, accommodation and food service, and administrative and support services, each above the 4.11 percent national net margin and the 66.35 percent national revenue growth rate.
Which section has neither high margin nor high growth?
Construction. Its net margin of 2.31 percent and revenue growth of 28.39 percent both sit below the national benchmarks, the only section among the 18 analyzed that clears neither line.
How was above average defined for this analysis?
Above average net margin means a section's aggregate net profit over aggregate revenue exceeds 4.11 percent, the same ratio computed across the 18 sections studied. Above average revenue growth means a section's total revenue rose more than 66.35 percent from statement year 2015 to statement year 2025, the aggregate growth rate for those same 18 sections.
Cite this page
Chatpong L. (2026). Thai Industry Sections With High Margin and High Growth 2026. Max Data Insights. https://maxdatathailand.com/insights/thai-industry-sections-with-both-high-margin-and-high-growth-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.