Thailand, EU to discuss chicken tariffs
The Trade Negotiations Department is to meet with the European Union in Bangkok to discuss ways to settle chicken import tariffs in the EU.
The meeting should be held within the next two weeks and should come out with a clear principle, said Friedrich Hamburger, the head of the European Commission delegation in Bangkok. Commerce Minister Krirkkrai Jirapaet said yesterday that he expects the meeting to minimise the impact of the EU's import tariff change on Thai chicken. The EU market is one of the major importers of Thai chicken products. The EU foreshadowed the introduction of new quotas in August for cooked chicken, salted chicken and turkey. Exports falling within the quotas will be taxed at existing rates, but shipments beyond the quotas will be taxed at a rate of ¤102 (Bt4,900) per 100 kilograms. The EU is now considering Thailand's import quotas. Thailand-EU trade reached US$25.8 billion (Bt947.6 billion) last year. However, the figure reached $24 billion during the first nine months of this year. Of the total, Thailand enjoyed a trade surplus of $4.6 billion, of which major export products included computers and parts, vehicles, and gems and jewellery. Thai chicken exporters expect the EU to give them an import quota of at least 200,000 tonnes. Meanwhile, Hamburger expressed his confidence that European investors would themselves feel confident about investing in Thailand, after a one-hour meeting with Krirkkrai yesterday on the new government's trade policies. He said Krirkkrai had given him a clear outline on the government's economic policy, as well as information about the sufficiency economy policy. Hamburger said he would explain this concept to European investors and that it should be a positive sign for foreign investors. Hamburger also asked for the ministry to explain more on the Foreign Business Law amendment to assure foreign investors in the Kingdom. The ministry has invited the EU to convey any proposal for this law amendment. In addition, Hamburger said the EU and Asean had high potential to conduct free-trade agreement negotiations after a study showed there would be a positive outcome for both sides. However, he said the EU did not yet know when negotiations would begin.
Petchanet Pratruangkrai
The Nation
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