Which Thai Industries Are Accelerating or Slowing in 2026
In short
Wholesale and retail trade is Thailand's fastest accelerating industry section, posting 18.2 percent one-year revenue growth against a 13.7 percent five-year pace. Information and communication is the only other section speeding up, at 5.4 percent against 3.4 percent. Financial and insurance activities has flipped hardest, from a mild 0.9 percent five-year pace into a 20.8 percent one-year revenue contraction. Sixteen of Thailand's 18 measurable industry sections are decelerating, and eight of those are now shrinking outright.
Which sections are speeding up, and which are slamming the brakes
Line up each section's latest one-year revenue growth against its own five-year compound annual growth rate and a clear split appears. Only two of Thailand's 18 measurable industry sections are accelerating. Wholesale and retail trade leads, growing revenue 18.2 percent in the latest year against a 13.7 percent five-year pace, a gap of 4.5 points (DBD, 2026). Information and communication is the only other accelerator, up 5.4 percent against a 3.4 percent five-year pace. Every other section is decelerating relative to its own trend. Financial and insurance activities shows the sharpest reversal in the data. Its five-year pace was a modest 0.9 percent a year, then the latest year alone brought a 20.8 percent revenue contraction, a swing of 21.7 points. Real estate, manufacturing, transportation and storage, electricity and gas, water supply, administrative and support services, and other service activities all moved from five-year growth into outright one-year contraction too. Eight of the 18 sections are now shrinking year over year even though every one of them grew, on average, across the prior five years.
One-year growth pace minus five-year trend, by industry section
- Wholesale and retail trade4
- Information and communication2
- Construction-0
- Professional, scientific and technical-3
- Education-4
- Mining and quarrying-5
- Agriculture, forestry and fishing-6
- Real estate activities-8
- Human health and social work-8
- Manufacturing-10
- Water supply and waste management-13
- Transportation and storage-13
- Arts, entertainment and recreation-14
- Administrative and support services-14
- Other service activities-15
- Electricity and gas supply-16
- Accommodation and food service-16
- Financial and insurance activities-22
Figures in percentage points.
A positive bar means the section is accelerating relative to its own five-year pace. A negative bar means it is decelerating, and the most negative bars mark sections that flipped from growth into contraction.
Every industry section ranked by acceleration or deceleration
| Industry section | 1-year growth | 5-year CAGR | Gap (points) | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wholesale and retail trade | 18.2% | 13.7% | +4.5 | Accelerating |
| Information and communication | 5.4% | 3.4% | +2.0 | Accelerating |
| Construction | 3.7% | 4.0% | -0.3 | Decelerating |
| Professional, scientific and technical | 3.8% | 7.2% | -3.4 | Decelerating |
| Education | 5.7% | 10.2% | -4.5 | Decelerating |
| Mining and quarrying | 6.3% | 11.8% | -5.4 | Decelerating |
| Agriculture, forestry and fishing | 1.0% | 7.2% | -6.2 | Decelerating |
| Real estate activities | -7.1% | 0.8% | -7.9 | Decelerating, now shrinking |
| Human health and social work | 3.1% | 11.5% | -8.4 | Decelerating |
| Manufacturing | -4.7% | 5.4% | -10.1 | Decelerating, now shrinking |
| Water supply and waste management | -1.3% | 11.3% | -12.6 | Decelerating, now shrinking |
| Transportation and storage | -2.0% | 10.7% | -12.7 | Decelerating, now shrinking |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | 5.5% | 19.2% | -13.7 | Decelerating |
| Administrative and support services | -6.3% | 8.0% | -14.2 | Decelerating, now shrinking |
| Other service activities | -1.7% | 13.1% | -14.8 | Decelerating, now shrinking |
| Electricity and gas supply | -11.9% | 3.9% | -15.7 | Decelerating, now shrinking |
| Accommodation and food service | 3.5% | 19.2% | -15.8 | Decelerating |
| Financial and insurance activities | -20.8% | 0.9% | -21.7 | Decelerating, now shrinking |
One-year revenue growth versus five-year compound annual growth rate, by section, as of 14 Aug 2026.
Why the acceleration gap matters more than the growth number alone
A single year of revenue growth tells a reader almost nothing about direction. A section can post a healthy one-year number and still be losing momentum, and that is exactly what happened to accommodation and food service and to arts and entertainment. Both grew revenue in the latest year, 3.5 percent and 5.5 percent, yet both are decelerating hard because their five-year pace of around 19 percent a year was built on a low pandemic-era base that a single year of normal trading cannot match. The acceleration gap strips that base effect out by comparing a section against its own trend rather than against every other section. Wholesale and retail trade stands out precisely because it is doing the opposite. It is not coasting on a low base. Its five-year pace of 13.7 percent was already the third highest of the 18 sections, behind only the two pandemic-recovery sectors just discussed, and it grew faster still. Financial and insurance activities is the clearest warning sign in the table. A sector that spent five years compounding at under one percent a year does not usually swing to a 20.8 percent one-year contraction without something structural changing in loan books, provisioning, or fee income. Anyone benchmarking a Thai business plan, a sector allocation, or a credit exposure against national trends should read the trend line, not the single year.
Definitions
- One-year growth
- The percentage change in a section's aggregate reported revenue from the prior statement year to the latest complete statement year.
- Five-year CAGR
- Compound annual growth rate. The constant yearly growth rate that would take a section's aggregate revenue from its level five years ago to its current level, calculated as the fifth root of the five-year revenue ratio minus one.
- Acceleration gap
- One-year growth minus five-year CAGR, in percentage points. A positive gap means the section is growing faster than its own trend, a negative gap means it is growing slower than its own trend.
- Statement year
- The fiscal year a company's filed financial statement covers, recorded in the Buddhist calendar in the source data. Statement year 2568 corresponds to calendar year 2025.
- TSIC section
- One of the 21 lettered top-level categories of the Thailand Standard Industrial Classification, based on the international ISIC standard, such as G for wholesale and retail trade or K for financial and insurance activities.
Assumptions
- Growth is measured on aggregate section revenue, not on a company-by-company basis, so a small number of very large filers can dominate a section's growth rate.
- Sections O, public administration, T, households, and U, extraterritorial organisations, are excluded because they have no or too few filed statements to support a five-year revenue series.
- The 2563 base year for the five-year CAGR falls in a pandemic-affected period for several service sections, which can inflate their five-year pace and make their one-year figure look weaker by comparison.
- Revenue reflects companies that filed a financial statement for the relevant year. A section with rising or falling filing rates over time can show growth that partly reflects filing coverage rather than underlying business activity.
Methodology
One-year growth is the change in aggregate reported revenue between the latest complete statement year, 2568 in the Buddhist calendar or 2025 in the Gregorian calendar, and the prior statement year, 2567 or 2024. The five-year figure is the compound annual growth rate of aggregate reported revenue between statement year 2563, or 2020, and statement year 2568, computed as the fifth root of the five-year revenue ratio minus one. Revenue is summed across all 5-digit TSIC industry codes with a filed financial statement in the relevant year, then rolled up to the 21 lettered ISIC sections using the section code stored against each TSIC code, drawn from the Department of Business Development registry through Supabase tables market_tsic_year_insight and market_tsic_insight computed 14 August 2026. Statement year 2569, the current incomplete year, is excluded. Sections O, public administration, T, households, and U, extraterritorial organisations, are excluded because they carry no or negligible filed revenue in this window and cannot support a five-year series, leaving 18 sections in the analysis. Growth figures are aggregate, section-wide totals, not an average of individual company growth rates, so a handful of very large filers can move a section's number.
How we verified this
- Wholesale and retail trade one-year growth recomputed as 33,500,071,738,864 baht divided by 28,342,301,233,625 baht minus one, equal to 18.20 percent.
- Wholesale and retail trade five-year CAGR recomputed as the fifth root of 33,500,071,738,864 baht divided by 17,614,411,688,648 baht, minus one, equal to 13.72 percent.
- Financial and insurance one-year change recomputed as 2,700,392,016,056 baht divided by 3,409,782,721,365 baht minus one, equal to negative 20.80 percent.
- Financial and insurance five-year CAGR recomputed as the fifth root of 2,700,392,016,056 baht divided by 2,582,265,576,902 baht, minus one, equal to 0.90 percent, confirming a 21.70 point swing into contraction.
- Across all 18 sections, 2 show a one-year pace above their five-year CAGR and 16 show a one-year pace below it, and 2 plus 16 equals the full 18-section count.
- Eight sections were confirmed to carry a negative one-year growth figure in the ranked table: real estate, manufacturing, water supply and waste, transportation and storage, administrative and support, other services, electricity and gas, and financial and insurance.
References
- Department of Business Development. (2026). Registered juristic persons and financial statement aggregates. Ministry of Commerce, Thailand. https://www.dbd.go.th/
- 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 section is accelerating the fastest in 2026?
Wholesale and retail trade, growing revenue 18.2 percent in the latest year against a 13.7 percent five-year pace, a gap of 4.5 points.
Which industry section had the sharpest slowdown?
Financial and insurance activities, which moved from a 0.9 percent five-year pace into a 20.8 percent one-year revenue contraction, a swing of 21.7 points.
How many Thai industry sections are actually decelerating?
16 of the 18 sections with a usable five-year revenue series are decelerating, and 8 of those have flipped into outright one-year contraction.
Why does a section's one-year growth number sometimes look strong even while it decelerates?
Sections such as accommodation and arts and entertainment grew in the latest year but far slower than their five-year pace, because that five-year pace was inflated by a low pandemic-era base.
Cite this page
Chatpong L. (2026). Which Thai Industries Are Accelerating or Slowing in 2026. Max Data Insights. https://maxdatathailand.com/insights/which-thai-industry-sections-are-accelerating-or-decelerating-2026
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.