Thailand's Biggest Net Margin Swings by Industry, 2015-2025
In short
Mining and quarrying widened its net margin more than any other Thai industry section between 2015 and 2025. The section swung 27.57 percentage points, moving from a loss to a profit. Education gained 8.11 points to reach a 15.22 percent margin. Accommodation and food service climbed 7.89 points as tourism rebuilt after the pandemic collapse. Financial and insurance, already the most profitable section in 2015, added another 7.74 points. Eleven of eighteen comparable sections widened their margin over the decade. Seven narrowed.
Which industries widened their net margin the most?
Mining and quarrying made the sharpest turnaround in the Thai company register. In the 2558 statement year, the sum of every mining company's net profit was actually a loss, a margin of -13.11 percent. By the 2568 statement year that same section was earning a 14.47 percent profit margin. The swing was 27.57 percentage points, the largest of any TSIC section (DBD, 2026). Education comes second, up 8.11 points. Its margin reached 15.22 percent by 2025. Accommodation and food service is third, climbing 7.89 points as the sector rebuilt through the tourism recovery. It moved from a small loss in 2015 to a 7.41 percent margin in 2025. Financial and insurance was already Thailand's most profitable section in 2015, at 20.51 percent. It still found another 7.74 points, taking its margin to 28.25 percent by 2025. Momentum and turnaround both show up in the same ranking.
Change in net margin by industry section, 2015 to 2025
- Mining and quarrying28
- Education8
- Accommodation and food service8
- Financial and insurance8
- Transportation and storage3
- Agriculture, forestry and fishing2
- Other services2
- Human health and social work1
- Real estate1
- Electricity and gas0
- Manufacturing0
- Professional, scientific and technical-0
- Construction-0
- Wholesale and retail trade-1
- Administrative and support-3
- Information and communication-4
- Arts and entertainment-5
- Water supply and waste management-6
Figures in percentage point change.
Eleven of eighteen comparable sections gained margin over the decade. Water supply and waste management and arts and entertainment lost the most ground.
Net margin by section, 2015 versus 2025
| Industry section | 2015 net margin | 2025 net margin | Change in points | Companies with data, 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mining and quarrying | -13.11% | 14.47% | +27.57 | 1,950 |
| Education | 7.11% | 15.22% | +8.11 | 5,860 |
| Accommodation and food service | -0.48% | 7.41% | +7.89 | 34,479 |
| Financial and insurance | 20.51% | 28.25% | +7.74 | 16,312 |
| Transportation and storage | 4.99% | 7.54% | +2.55 | 28,616 |
| Agriculture, forestry and fishing | 1.12% | 3.24% | +2.12 | 7,521 |
| Other services | -0.46% | 1.39% | +1.85 | 8,271 |
| Human health and social work | 10.81% | 12.03% | +1.22 | 9,221 |
| Real estate | 9.38% | 10.57% | +1.19 | 75,731 |
| Electricity and gas | 12.37% | 12.71% | +0.33 | 3,394 |
| Manufacturing | 4.02% | 4.30% | +0.28 | 82,368 |
| Professional, scientific and technical | 13.65% | 13.52% | -0.13 | 60,544 |
| Construction | 3.84% | 3.49% | -0.35 | 75,053 |
| Wholesale and retail trade | 1.92% | 1.28% | -0.64 | 235,085 |
| Administrative and support | 7.54% | 4.72% | -2.82 | 39,064 |
| Information and communication | 11.29% | 7.47% | -3.82 | 21,031 |
| Arts and entertainment | 5.07% | -0.23% | -5.30 | 6,224 |
| Water supply and waste management | 14.23% | 8.10% | -6.13 | 2,061 |
Aggregate net margin per TSIC section for the 2558 and 2568 statement years, ranked by the size of the change.
Why the swing matters more than the level
A ranking by margin level rewards sectors that already sell scarce assets or expertise. A ranking by margin change tells a different story about direction. Mining and quarrying was a loss-making section a decade ago, dragged down by a commodity price slump that also shows up in global data from that period. By 2025 it had turned into one of the more profitable sections in the entire economy. Accommodation and food service tells a similar story of recovery rather than steady growth. The section posted a small loss in 2015, then endured the pandemic years, and only by 2025 had it rebuilt a margin above 7 percent, consistent with the tourism recovery that the Bank of Thailand and NESDC have tracked through arrivals and receipts. Financial and insurance shows a third pattern entirely: a section that started strong and simply pulled further ahead. Water supply and waste management and arts and entertainment sit at the other end, both losing more than five points of margin even as company counts in those sections kept growing.
Definitions
- Net margin
- Net profit as a share of revenue for a group of companies. A margin of 10 percent means 10 satang of profit for every baht of revenue.
- Percentage point
- The plain difference between two percentages. A move from 5 percent to 8 percent is a gain of 3 percentage points, not 60 percent.
- TSIC section
- One of the 21 broad letter categories, A through U, in the Thailand Standard Industrial Classification, each built from many narrower 5-digit industry codes.
- Statement year
- The Buddhist calendar year of the filed financial statement. Statement year 2558 is calendar 2015 and statement year 2568 is calendar 2025.
- Aggregate margin
- Total profit for a group of companies divided by total revenue for the same group, rather than the average of each company's own margin.
Assumptions
- Only companies that filed a financial statement for the 2558 or 2568 statement year contribute to each year's margin.
- Margins are aggregate figures, weighted toward larger companies within a section, not simple averages across companies.
- Sections with fewer filings, such as electricity and gas or water supply and waste management, are more sensitive to a handful of large companies than sections with tens of thousands of filers.
- Public administration, extraterritorial organizations and households are excluded for lacking comparable filings in one or both years.
Methodology
Net margin per industry section is computed by summing total revenue and total net profit across every 5-digit TSIC industry code that maps to that section, for companies that filed a financial statement in the given statement year, then dividing total profit by total revenue. This is an aggregate margin, not an average of individual company margins. Figures are drawn from market_tsic_year_insight joined to market_tsic_insight in the DBD-sourced registry, comparing the 2558 statement year, which is 2015, against the 2568 statement year, which is 2025, as of 7 July 2026. Sections O, public administration, and U, extraterritorial organizations, are excluded because they had no comparable filings in one or both years. Section T, households, is excluded because it had only a handful of filings in 2015 and none in 2025.
How we verified this
- Recomputed the mining and quarrying change as 14.4668 minus -13.1081, equal to 27.5749 percentage points, which rounds to the 27.57 point swing reported here and matches the -13.11 to 14.47 margin move in the brief.
- Recomputed the accommodation and food service change as 7.4079 minus -0.4771, equal to 7.8850 percentage points, which rounds to 7.89 and matches the -0.48 to 7.41 margin move in the brief.
- Counted 11 sections with a positive margin change and 7 with a negative change across the joined table, summing to 18 of the 21 lettered TSIC sections, which matches the row count in the ranked table.
- Confirmed financial and insurance already led all 18 comparable sections on the 2015 margin of 20.51 percent before adding a further 7.74 points by 2025, by resorting the joined table on the 2015 column.
References
- Department of Business Development. (2026). Registered juristic persons and financial statement aggregates by industry and statement year. Ministry of Commerce, Thailand. https://www.dbd.go.th/
- National Economic and Social Development Council. (2025). Thai economic performance Q2 2025 and outlook. https://www.nesdc.go.th/
Frequently asked questions
Which Thai industry improved its net margin the most between 2015 and 2025?
Mining and quarrying, whose aggregate net margin moved from -13.11 percent in the 2558 statement year to 14.47 percent in the 2568 statement year, a swing of 27.57 percentage points.
Did every industry section get more profitable over the decade?
No. Of the 18 sections with comparable data in both years, 11 widened their net margin and 7 narrowed it, with water supply and waste management falling the most, down 6.13 points.
Why did mining and quarrying swing so much?
The section reported an aggregate loss in 2015, when commodity prices were weak, and had turned to a double digit profit margin by 2025 as revenue and profit both recovered.
How is net margin calculated for this comparison?
Total net profit for all filing companies in a section is divided by total revenue for that same group in a given statement year, then the two years are compared directly.
Cite this page
Chatpong L. (2026). Thailand's Biggest Net Margin Swings by Industry, 2015-2025. Max Data Insights. https://maxdatathailand.com/insights/which-thai-industries-improved-net-margin-most-2015-2025
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.