The number of Western Australian businesses exporting to Thailand has increased markedly in the six months since the Thailand Australia Free Trade Agreement was signed.
The number of Western Australian businesses exporting to Thailand has increased markedly in the six months since the Thailand Australia Free Trade Agreement was signed.
And according to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA director of trade services, Keith Seed, all signs indicate this trend will continue.
Mr Seed said a chamber register, which exporters sign (certifying their TAFTA certificates of origin) to claim a tariff reduction, there had been a significant increase in activity since the FTA came into effect.
“From January to March a CCIWA report showed 37 businesses had registered,” he said. “Now there are 50 and the number is growing all the time.
“Before January 1, there were about 20 to 30 companies exporting to Thailand.
“What stands out is the number of wine companies exporting. Of the 50 companies that have registered, 10 of those are wine companies.”
Thailand reduced its previous 54 per cent tariffs on wine to 40 per cent and will phase the tariff to zero in 2015.
The TAFTA started on January 1, and according to Federal Trade Minister Mark Vaile, immediately improved Australian exporters’ access to the second largest and one of the fastest growing economies in South-East Asia.
Despite the upbeat figures from the CCI, WA Farmers Federation president Trevor De Landgrafft said the agreement with Thailand had yet to prove of significant interest.
“FTAs in general terms sound good but I haven’t been made aware of what this one will do,” he said.
“Even with the US one [FTA] there has been no breakthrough. Realistically, you do wonder what the benefit is.
“We would be hoping more for a breakthrough with the WTO rather than what the FTAs provide.
“They are hardly worth putting in a marketing effort for.”
Mr De Landgrafft said a major problem with the FTAs Australia had signed was the phased introduction of tariff cuts.
Before the FTA with Thailand, Mr Vaile said more than $700 million of current Australian exports to Thailand would obtain immediate tariff cuts, while the savings on Thai customs were expected to be around $100 million in the first year alone.
“TAFTA will eliminate more than half of Thailand’s 5,000 tariffs – accounting for nearly 80 per cent of Australian exports,” he said.
“By 2010, 95 per cent of all current trade between Australia and Thailand will be completely free.”
Key TAFTA outcomes for WA include: the immediate elimination of tariffs on wheat, barley, rye and oats; beef tariff reduced to 40 per cent from 51 per cent and to zero in 2020; sheep meat tariff of 32 per cent to zero in 2010; ice cream to zero in 2010; and tariffs on most fresh fruit and vegetables (most at 33 and 42 per cent) to zero in 2010.
Austrade chief economist Tim Harcourt said that, in the 10 months to April 2005, Australian exports to Thailand had grown by more than 66 per cent, with the biggest increases in minerals, fuels and manufacturing.
Other key sectors to benefit from the tariff cuts include lamb, processed foods, fruit and vegetables, fisheries and steel.
