Thailand to push on with EU free trade talks The EU is ending privileges under its Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) for more than 6,200 Thai products. Nuntawan Sakuntanaga, director-general of the International Trade Promotion Department, said that as a sustainable measure to ensure the growth of exports to Europe, Thailand needed an FTA with the EU. The department will try to encourage the government to restart the FTA talks. If an agreement could be finalized, it would be permanently effective and should lower tariffs on more than 90% of the trade in goods between Thailand and the EU. Meanwhile, Thailand’s frozen seafood exporters foresee a brighter year, with the value of shipments expected to rise by 20% to THB 130 billion ($3.9bn). Poj Aramwattananont, president of the Thai Frozen Foods Association, said the industry should gradually bounce back during the year as shrimp farms recover from the EMS epidemic that began in 2012. Of the THB 130bn export value of frozen seafood, THB 80bn should come from shrimp, and the rest from tuna and squid. Exporters have expressed concern about fishing-area restrictions imposed by Myanmar and Indonesia, though these problems should be resolved soon, he said. Thai enterprises had been struggling to add more value to their seafood products and ensure food safety, traceability and freedom from antibiotics to serve high-end markets, he said. If production standards are recognized as being high, Thai seafood will gain better acceptance in the world market, and the country will retain its position as the leading Asean shrimp supplier. Ecuadorian tuna and shrimp sellers, meanwhile, will continue to have preferential tariffs for sale to the EU in 2015, after some uncertainly at the end of 2014 that impacted demand. Under the EU’s GSP system, Ecuador will continue to have preferential duties at the GSP+ rate in 2015, as Thailand loses its GSP tariff rate on raw shrimp, following the loss of the tariff on cooked and processed shrimp at the start of 2014. This means Ecuadorian shrimp sellers will continue to enjoy a 3.6% tariff on raw shrimp after the 0% quota on 20,000 metric tons is exceeded. If Ecuador had not been granted GSP+ again, the tariff would have gone to 12%. -Undercurrent News
Posted on: Fri, 09 Jan 2015 04:54:36 +0000
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