Thailand's Narrowest and Broadest Industry Codes 2026
In short
257 of Thailand's 1,228 five digit industry codes count fewer than 20 registered companies each, as of 7 July 2026. That is one code in five reduced to a micro niche. One hundred fifty seven codes hold five companies or fewer, and forty seven hold exactly one. At the other end, 296 codes cross the 1,000 company mark. Just 47 codes, 3.83 percent of the total, already hold 1,018,528 companies, 51.27 percent of the whole registry. The single busiest code alone carries 165,550 companies. Thailand's industry map is a long tail of tiny slots under a handful of giants.
How many of Thailand's industry codes are tiny niches versus broad giants?
257 of Thailand's 1,228 five digit industry codes count fewer than 20 registered companies each, as of 7 July 2026, in market_tsic_insight from the DBD registry (DBD, 2026). That works out to 20.93 percent of every code the registry uses, essentially one code in five. Look closer and 197 codes hold fewer than 10 companies, 157 hold five or fewer, and 47 hold exactly one. At the opposite extreme, 296 codes cross the 1,000 company mark, 24.10 percent of the total. Just 47 codes, 3.83 percent of all codes, already carry 10,000 or more companies apiece, and together those 47 hold 1,018,528 companies, 51.27 percent of every classified company in the country. The single busiest code, 41002 in the construction section, carries 165,550 companies on its own, 8.33 percent of the whole registry. Thailand did not build a level field of industry codes. It built a long tail of micro niches sitting under a short list of giants.
Five digit codes grouped by company count
- 1 to 4 companies139
- 5 to 19 companies118
- 20 to 99 companies226
- 100 to 999 companies449
- 1,000 to 9,999 companies249
- 10,000 or more companies47
Figures in number of industry codes.
Most codes sit in the middle bands. The two extremes, near empty niches and giant codes with tens of thousands of companies, are both real but form the thin ends of the shape.
Where Thailand's industry codes sit, from smallest to largest
| Company count band | Codes in band | Share of all codes | Companies in band | Share of all companies |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 to 4 | 139 | 11.32% | 312 | 0.02% |
| 5 to 19 | 118 | 9.61% | 1,256 | 0.06% |
| 20 to 99 | 226 | 18.40% | 12,488 | 0.63% |
| 100 to 999 | 449 | 36.56% | 167,974 | 8.45% |
| 1,000 to 9,999 | 249 | 20.28% | 786,151 | 39.57% |
| 10,000 or more | 47 | 3.83% | 1,018,528 | 51.27% |
Five digit TSIC codes in market_tsic_insight, grouped by company count band, as of 7 Jul 2026.
Manufacturing carries the most codes, and the most niches
Manufacturing, section C, is split into 421 five digit codes on its own, 34.28 percent of every code that exists (DBD, 2026). That single section also holds 58 of the 257 niche codes, 22.57 percent of all the tiny ones. Wholesale and retail trade, section G, is cut into 200 codes and contributes another 36 niche codes. Agriculture, section A, has only 105 codes total, yet 33 of them count fewer than 20 companies, a niche rate of 31.43 percent, well above manufacturing's 13.78 percent and trade's 18.00 percent. Among the three largest sections by code count, agriculture is the most fragmented. The pattern points to how the classification itself was built. Sections that regulators wanted to track in fine detail, such as specific manufactured products or specific crops, were cut into many narrow codes, and plenty of those codes never attracted more than a handful of registrants.
Why the shape of the code list matters
A five digit code with one company is not a typo, it is a working part of the classification. Someone at DBD registration decided that activity deserved its own slot, separate from its neighbors, even if only one firm ever used it. That granularity is a gift for a market researcher hunting an exact niche and a trap for anyone building a simple industry dashboard, since averaging across 1,228 codes as if they were equal size units badly distorts any typical picture. The other side of the same coin is the 47 giant codes. A market entrant who reads Thailand's industry classification as 1,228 roughly equal buckets will badly misjudge where the real competition, and the real customers, actually sit. Half the classified economy already lives inside fewer codes than fit on one page.
Definitions
- Five digit TSIC code
- The finest level of Thailand's Standard Industrial Classification, one step more detailed than the 21 lettered sections such as manufacturing or construction.
- Niche code
- A term used on this page, not an official DBD label, for a five digit code with fewer than 20 registered companies.
- Section
- The broadest level of the classification, one of 21 letters from A to U, such as C for manufacturing or G for wholesale and retail trade.
- Registered company
- A juristic entity recorded in the DBD registry, counted here regardless of whether it is currently active or dormant.
Assumptions
- A code with zero registered companies would not appear in market_tsic_insight at all, so the 1,228 total covers only codes with at least one company on record.
- Company counts include both active and dormant companies, since entity_count in market_tsic_insight is not filtered by operating status.
- The company count bands used here, such as under 20 or 1,000 and above, are analytical choices for this page and not official DBD size categories.
- Five digit codes cannot be named individually because description_en is not populated in the source data, so codes are described by number and parent section only.
Methodology
Counts come from market_tsic_insight, one row per five digit TSIC code in the DBD backed registry, as of 7 July 2026. Each code's entity_count includes every registered company assigned that code regardless of active or dormant status. Company count bands, such as under 20 or 1,000 and above, are analytical choices made for this page and are not official DBD size classes. Codes with zero registered companies do not appear in the source table, so the 1,228 total reflects only codes carrying at least one registered company. description_en is not populated for five digit codes in the source data, so codes are identified by number and by their parent lettered section rather than by name.
How we verified this
- 257 divided by 1228 recomputes to 20.93 percent, the share of codes with fewer than 20 companies.
- 296 divided by 1228 recomputes to 24.10 percent, the share of codes at or above 1000 companies.
- The six company count bands sum as 139 plus 118 plus 226 plus 449 plus 249 plus 47, which equals 1228, matching the total code count.
- The same six bands sum in companies as 312 plus 1256 plus 12488 plus 167974 plus 786151 plus 1018528, which equals 1986709, matching the sum of entity_count across market_tsic_insight.
- 1018528 divided by 1986709 recomputes to 51.27 percent, the share held by the 47 codes at 10000 companies or more.
- 165550 divided by 1986709 recomputes to 8.33 percent, the share held by the single largest code, 41002.
- 58 divided by 257 recomputes to 22.57 percent, the share of all niche codes that fall inside the manufacturing section.
- 33 divided by 105 recomputes to 31.43 percent, the niche rate within the agriculture section.
- 58 divided by 421 recomputes to 13.78 percent, the niche rate within manufacturing, the largest section by code count.
- 36 divided by 200 recomputes to 18.00 percent, the niche rate within wholesale and retail trade, the second largest section by code count.
References
- Department of Business Development. (2026). Registered juristic persons by five digit TSIC code. Ministry of Commerce, Thailand. https://www.dbd.go.th/
- National Statistical Office of Thailand. (2009). Thailand Standard Industrial Classification: TSIC 2009. https://catalogapi.nso.go.th/api/doc/department/D08/SD08_08/SD08_08_47_7.pdf
Frequently asked questions
How many five digit industry codes does Thailand have?
1,228 as of 7 July 2026, each one carrying at least one registered company in the DBD registry.
What share of Thailand's industry codes are tiny niches?
257 codes, 20.93 percent of the total, hold fewer than 20 registered companies each, and 47 of those hold exactly one company.
Which single industry code has the most companies?
Code 41002 in the construction section, with 165,550 companies, 8.33 percent of every classified company in the country.
How concentrated is Thailand's company count across industry codes?
Very. Just 47 codes, 3.83 percent of the total, hold 1,018,528 companies, 51.27 percent of the 1,986,709 companies with a classified code.
Cite this page
Chatpong L. (2026). Thailand's Narrowest and Broadest Industry Codes 2026. Max Data Insights. https://maxdatathailand.com/insights/thailands-narrowest-and-broadest-industry-codes-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.