The global economic situation in 2024 has significantly impacted Thailand's economic factors, including the strengthening of the exchange rate and the US Federal Reserve's interest rate cuts. Therefore, the board of directors has assigned the management team to monitor and respond to various economic changes to prevent risks occurred to the company. The domestic economic situation continues to grow moderately, coupled with proposals from domestic and foreign sectors to adjust the economic model to expand the growth rate in the long term. The board of directors has considered that these ideas consist of various issues that align with the group's policies, and the group has the capability to respond well to these issues. Therefore, the board of directors has assigned the management team to make the group's business plan to respond to the aforementioned issues, such as increasing agricultural productivity, resolving farmers' debt problems, and seeking new industries for the company.

In addition to economic movements, the board of directors has considered other issues to inform its business decisions. As the significant global development in 2024 is the United Nations' efforts to develop international law to control and eliminate plastic pollution, which is a major cause of the global climate crisis. It is expected that if the UN finalizes this law and a number of member states join it, it will increase the demand for bioplastics, which will benefit the Nakhonsawan Biocomplex project, which is scheduled to open soon.

Important environmental factors this year have had a positive impact on Thailand's sugar industry in near future, such as increased rainfall, resulting in an increase in sugarcane production to possibly 100 million tons this year. The severe drought and wildfires in Brazil, as well as the Indian government's ban on sugar exports, have also contributed to this positive trend. This positive change will incentivize farmers to grow more sugarcane. However, the board of directors continues to monitor the impact of negative factors on the industry, such as flooding, through ongoing risk management mechanisms. Additionally, all three stakeholders in the sugar industry – farmers, the government, and sugar mills – agree on the key issue of increasing the quality of sugarcane produced by farmers, which will lead to better returns. Each stakeholder is taking action to achieve this goal through campaigns to improve sugarcane quality by farmers, setting sugarcane purchasing standards by mills, and various government support measures such as low-interest loans for sugarcane quality development projects. Furthermore, an important consensus among stakeholders is to start using advanced technology such as artificial intelligence in the sugarcane and sugar industry, such as the "Development of an Intelligent Analysis and Early Warning System for the Sugarcane and Sugar Industry" project by the Office of the Cane and Sugar Board.

As for the bio-business, the ethanol industry is proposing amendments to regulations to increase opportunities for the use of ethanol in non-fuel industry, such as bioplastics, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics. This will enhance the capabilities of the group's two ethanol plants. The pulp and paper industry is also exploring ways to capitalize on opportunities arising from international trade disputes between large consumers of paper packaging countries and producing countries, as well as working to obtain internationally recognized standards for paper products.

On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank all stakeholders who have worked with the group in the past year, and I would like to thank all shareholders for their continued trust in the group's business