Thailand And Japan Cut Import Duties

[george]

Thailand and Japan cut import duties

BANGKOK: -- Japan and Thailand announced Monday that they had agreed to cut import taxes on vehicle components, luxury cars, chicken, shrimps and pineapples, reducing tariffs on more than 90 percent of the $36 billion worth of products traded between the two nations.

Japan will cut tariffs on Thai poultry, canned foods and jewelry exports. Thailand will reduce levies on imported cars with engines larger than 3-liter capacity, Trade Minister Shoichi Nakagawa of Japan said.

The agreement paves the way for the signature of a bilateral trade accord in April, to take effect in September 2006, that will apply to more than 7,000 products.

Japan was Thailand's second-biggest export market last year after the United States, with $13.5 billion of products sold. Thailand bought $22.4 billion of Japanese products in the same period.

"The free trade agreement will certainly boost the amount of agricultural exports," which comprised 41 billion baht," or $984 million, last year, Pisan Manawapat, an official of Thailand's Foreign Affairs Ministry, said Monday.

Thailand will cut its 80 percent tariff on 3-liter vehicles to 60 percent by 2009 and allow components not produced in Thailand to be imported without tax, Pisan said. Tariffs on hot-rolled steel plates will fall over the next decade, depending on the products, he said.

The accord announced Monday had been delayed by Thai objections to various Japanese demands, including a cut in Thai tariffs on 3-liter cars.

Thailand, where General Motors, Toyota Motor and other overseas assemblers make pick-up trucks and commercial vehicles, aims to become "the Detroit of Asia," and cuts in tariffs could hurt that effort, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said Monday.

Resolution of that dispute could help Toyota, Nissan Motor and Honda Motor add luxury cars to the pick-up trucks and commercial vehicles that they already make in Thailand.

Companies are assembling cars and making components in Thailand, Southeast Asia's largest vehicle market. Japan is Thailand's main source of foreign investment, providing 39.7 percent.

Negotiations had stalled in April when Thai manufacturers opposed a demand for tariff reductions on steel and auto components, sought by Japanese companies in exchange for additional investment in Thai plants. Compromises were negotiated in May and June to resolve the steel and car parts disputes.

Still, not everyone is happy with the tariff pact. Thai steel makers, who say they supply only about 10 percent of the metal used in car manufacturing in the country, because Japanese companies mainly use steel produced in Japan, believe they will lose more than they gain.

"The steel industry is the biggest loser in this agreement," said Korrakod Padungjitt, secretary general of Thailand Iron and Steel Industries Club.

--Bloomberg 2005-08-02

[Boatabike]

Thailand and Japan cut import duties 

Japan will cut tariffs on Thai poultry, canned foods and jewelry exports. Thailand will reduce levies on imported cars with engines larger than 3-liter capacity, Trade Minister Shoichi Nakagawa of Japan said.

--Bloomberg 2005-08-02

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

So Thai chickens that nobody will buy because of chicken flu will be cheaper, and large engined cars will be cheaper in Thailand after Toxin recentlysaid they may consider banning large engine cars because of the oil problem..

[terdsak_12]

I saw Taksin at the recent fottball match roll up in his Merc S600 V12, I guess the rules don't apply to him then??