Sales of 66% of Thai firms plunged 10-30% due to cheap imports: FTI
Nearly 66% of Thai entrepreneurs said their businesses had been impacted by the influx of cheap, substandard products from overseas that had been flooding local markets, a survey by the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) revealed.
FTI vice-chairman Montri Mahaplerkpong said on Friday that the majority of FTI executives surveyed in the February poll on how cheap imports were affecting Thai entrepreneurs expressed concern about rising competition as well as consumer safety due to low product quality.
The survey is part of the FTI CEO Poll monthly campaign that collects data from 234 executives in 46 industries as well as those from 76 FTI provincial offices.
Around 65.8% of the respondents said that their sales had plummeted by 10% to over 30% in the past month due to competition from cheap imports.
Industries that had been affected the most included electrical appliances (70.1%), food and cosmetics (55.6%), textile and fashion products (49.6%), construction materials (42.7%) and machinery (30.3%).
Around 81.2% of respondents believed that Thai entrepreneurs were unable to compete with cheap imports in terms of cost, while 74.4% were concerned about consumer safety from using low-quality products that had not met industrial standards.
Among suggested measures, 78.2% said the government should increase screening of cheap imports during the customs process, as well as perform random checks in the markets, to make sure that these imported products met related industrial and safety standards.
Nearly 66.2% of respondents, meanwhile, suggested that tax exemption for imported products valued under 1,500 baht sold via online channel should be scrapped, or revised to prevent sellers from showing fake prices to avoid the tax.
Around 48.3% said the government should consider using anti-circumvention measures to counter the dumping of overseas products.
Montri added that FTI executives had advised Thai entrepreneurs to improve product quality to meet existing standards, such as the Thai Industrial Standard and that of the Thailand Food and Drug Administration, to compete with overseas competitors.
Thai entrepreneurs have also been urged to upgrade their brand image by improving after-sales services and switching to eco-friendly manufacturing and operations, in keeping with consumers.
