Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin on Tuesday called on government authorities to step up measures to stop suspicious imports, including tighter controls on licenses and registrations, payments and quality controls. Bangkok Post reported.
He expects stricter anti-dumping measures for both offline and online transactions by the end of this month.
Last month, the government extended the 7% value-added tax to all imported goods priced below 1,500 THB ($42.91), which were previously exempt from tax.
According to government spokesman Chai Wacharonke, the Thai Ministry of Commerce plans to limit the annual quantity and value of goods imported online.
“There is an unusually high influx of imported products on the Internet,” he told reporters. “This is hitting our local producers, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, hard. We are not complacent about this.”
The influx of Chinese products has posed additional challenges to Thailand’s ailing economy, with growth of just 1.5 percent recorded in the first quarter and nearly 2,000 factories closed last year, according to Reuters.
Companies are now demanding higher government subsidies to boost local production.
Those that manufacture in Thailand and take part in government tenders currently receive a five percent subsidy, giving them a slight advantage over foreign firms but not enough to make a difference, says Kriengkrai Thiennukul, chairman of the Confederation of Thai Industries.
“We need to temporarily raise this rate from five to 20 percent for two to three years,” he said. Reuters in an interview. “This will put real money circulating in the system, which could significantly boost the economy.”
The government must better protect local companies in the long term, otherwise they will not be able to survive a “tsunami” of cheap goods from China, Kriengkrai added.
By June this year, more than 660 factories, mostly in the SME sector, had been closed in Thailand, an increase of 86% compared to the same period last year, he said.
“Maybe we’ll get more foreign investment in new industries,” he said. “But at the same time, Thai SMEs are closing like falling leaves.”
