Marketing and Competition in Power and Utilities Business The power and utilities business has been adversely affected by the outbreak of Russia-Ukraine war, driving up power and steam production costs significantly. Under the government’s policy, power producers are subject to price control on the electricity rates they charge to industrial users. Thus, power producers had to bear the cost of electricity generation that was higher than the rate they charge to consumers. The steam production for industrial users bore the brunt of rising production cost due to the sharp increase in natural gas prices as the result of supply shortage attributed to the Russia-Ukraine war. The impact from such conflict is being felt far and wide, triggering high inflation throughout the world. IRPC’s customers have also been affected by the steam price increase. According to IRPC’s forecast, the power and utilities business is expected to recover in 2023 as the government decided to spend more on power subsidies for industrial users than the previous year. As for other market conditions, the adverse effects from the protracted Russia-Ukraine war will continue to be present. However, the company has closely monitored the global situation and deployed the entire range of risk management mechanisms to deal with uncertainty in 2023. Marketing and Competition in Port and Storage Tank Businesses The COVID-19 pandemic situation eased up in 2022 as vaccination rollout reached most of the population. The economic recovery began in earnest and a number of large industrial plants became operational in this region. Imports and exports rapidly resumed growth, contributing to increased maritime traffic and greater demand for port and storage tank services. Port Business Positive factors relating to the government’s investment in infrastructure projects, as part of an economic stimulus package to ensure a strong recovery. COVID-19 has been brought under better control as mass vaccination gathered momentum. The country’s tourism and the service sectors were expected to stage a solid comeback, encouraging more investments. Storage Tank Business IRPC is in the process of upgrading storage facilities to accommodate additional types of products. The company’s investment plan calls for an upgrade in pipelines and storage tanks to better utilize existing assets. Once completed, the storage facilities will be able to provide external customers with storage tanks for crude oil, specialgrade diesel as well as primary chemical products. In 2022, the storage tank business has benefited from the Department of Energy Business’ decision to raise crude oil reserves to 4 per cent, since October 15, 2022 and liquid petroleum gas (LPG) reserves to 1 per cent since January 1, 2023. This led to an increase in demand for storage tanks for legal reserves. Marketing and Competition in Property Management Business In 2022, The Cabinet passed a resolution approving no change for land and building tax rates. In Q2 of 2022, the company has paid land and building taxes in full. As for the development of the WHA Industrial Estate Rayong in collaboration with WHA Industrial Development Public Company Limited (WHAID), the project development experienced a setback in 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic. This caused a delay in the implementation of the public hearing process. As a result, the project development plan has been delayed. 83 Structure and Business Operations of IRPC IRPC PUBLIC COMPANY LIMITED
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