17/08/2010
Phusadee Arunmas
Bangkok Post
Border trade between Thailand and Cambodia is expected to fall by 10% this year, as the escalating dispute over the Preah Vihear temple has prompted businesspeople to reduce activity.
The Thai government insists the temple conflict is unlikely to affect border trade, but Thai operators could not help feeling insecure as they are afraid they might be unable to collect payment for products, said Niyom Wairatpanij, chairman of the committee on border trade development of the Thai Chamber of Commerce.
More importantly, he said, new investments and tourism could dry up because of safety concerns.
Last year, cross-border trade between Thailand and Cambodia was valued at 45.37 billion baht, of which 42.87 billion represented Thai exports, down 9.5% from 2008 due to the world economic crisis.
Thailand's key export products include refined sugar, cement, fuel oil, automobiles and parts, motorcycles and parts, while key imports are iron and aluminium scraps and tapioca.
Mr Niyom also warned that cross-border trade with Burma would be hard hit should the government fail to persuade the Burmese government to reopen a border checkpoint at Mae Sot at Tak province that generated trade of 25 billion baht last year.
Trade and transport at the Mae Sot-Myawaddy crossing has been frozen since Burma shut the bridge across the Moei River and more than 20 trading ports along the river on July 12. Rangoon was responding to a river embankment construction project it claimed diverted some water and might lead to erosion.
According to the Mae Sot Customs Office, the closing has eliminated trade worth 80-100 million baht a day.
"The government is directly responsible for settling the border disputes both with Cambodia and Burma," said Mr Niyom. "The private sector itself has no capacity and power to convince the governments of Burma and Cambodia to end the disputes."
Border trade between Thailand and neighbouring countries totalled 639.16 billion baht in 2009, down by 10.4% from a year earlier. Thailand's exports dropped by 10.8% to 366.11 billion baht, with imports down 9.8% to 273.04 billion baht, according to Foreign Trade Department statistics.
The Commerce Ministry has recently set a target to drive border trade to reach 1 trillion baht over the next three years, helped by tariff cuts on thousands of Asean products to between zero and 5% under the Asean Free Trade Area (Afta) from Jan 1 this year.
Kasikorn Research Center (KRC) forecast that Thailand's border trade would reach 700 billion this year due to steady economic growth of neighbouring countries and tariff cuts under Afta.
The Thai government insists the temple conflict is unlikely to affect border trade, but Thai operators could not help feeling insecure as they are afraid they might be unable to collect payment for products, said Niyom Wairatpanij, chairman of the committee on border trade development of the Thai Chamber of Commerce.
More importantly, he said, new investments and tourism could dry up because of safety concerns.
Last year, cross-border trade between Thailand and Cambodia was valued at 45.37 billion baht, of which 42.87 billion represented Thai exports, down 9.5% from 2008 due to the world economic crisis.
Thailand's key export products include refined sugar, cement, fuel oil, automobiles and parts, motorcycles and parts, while key imports are iron and aluminium scraps and tapioca.
Mr Niyom also warned that cross-border trade with Burma would be hard hit should the government fail to persuade the Burmese government to reopen a border checkpoint at Mae Sot at Tak province that generated trade of 25 billion baht last year.
Trade and transport at the Mae Sot-Myawaddy crossing has been frozen since Burma shut the bridge across the Moei River and more than 20 trading ports along the river on July 12. Rangoon was responding to a river embankment construction project it claimed diverted some water and might lead to erosion.
According to the Mae Sot Customs Office, the closing has eliminated trade worth 80-100 million baht a day.
"The government is directly responsible for settling the border disputes both with Cambodia and Burma," said Mr Niyom. "The private sector itself has no capacity and power to convince the governments of Burma and Cambodia to end the disputes."
Border trade between Thailand and neighbouring countries totalled 639.16 billion baht in 2009, down by 10.4% from a year earlier. Thailand's exports dropped by 10.8% to 366.11 billion baht, with imports down 9.8% to 273.04 billion baht, according to Foreign Trade Department statistics.
The Commerce Ministry has recently set a target to drive border trade to reach 1 trillion baht over the next three years, helped by tariff cuts on thousands of Asean products to between zero and 5% under the Asean Free Trade Area (Afta) from Jan 1 this year.
Kasikorn Research Center (KRC) forecast that Thailand's border trade would reach 700 billion this year due to steady economic growth of neighbouring countries and tariff cuts under Afta.
1 comment:
tell it to thai government. thai picked fight with all of their 4 neighbors country.
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