
BANGKOK -- The severe air pollution blanketing the Thai capital has caught one of Japan's big electronics producers flat-footed and left one of Thailand's major retailers without enough designer air purifiers from the U.K.
Economic losses from the smog are estimated at 6 billion baht ($192 million) in January alone. But the haze, which has been coloring Bangkok's skyline since early January, has also been a boon to makers of face masks, Southeast Asia's largest ride-hailing service and to city's notorious sidewalk vendors.