BANGKOK, Feb 18 (TNA) – The Department of Trade Negotiations and Thai exporters make use of free trade agreements and have developed Thailand to be the 4th biggest exporter of tea products.
Auramon Supthaweethum, director-general of the department, said that as a tea product exporter, Thailand was ranked behind Canada, the United States and China.
The country exported 10,775 tons of tea products worth 958 million baht. Of all the exports, 46% was destined for Myanmar, 27% for the US and 7% for Laos. The Thai exports benefited from free trade agreements with its contract partners such as Southeast Asian nations and China, she said.
In 2017, Thailand exported 2,710 tons of tea leaves worth 436 million baht, up 49% from 2016. The exports rose 25% in Indonesia, 19% in Cambodia and 18% in China.
Ms Auramon did not think Thailand’s inclusion of tea products in its free trade agreement with Australia would have a negative impact on the local tea industry because Australia is not a major tea producer or exporter. On the contrary, Thai farmers and operators could benefit from the free trade if they were able to develop their products to meet consumers’ demand, she said.
In 2018, Thailand produced 93,309 tons of fresh tea leaves, up by 27.45% from 2017. They consisted of 84,231 tons of black tea leaves which formed 90.27% of total produce and 9,078 tons of Chinese tea leaves, 9.73%.
In the same year, Thailand imported 1,639 tons of tea from China (49% of all imports) and also imported it from Vietnam (25%) and Myanmar (11%). Thailand waived tariffs on tea leaves from Southeast Asian nations but has not done so for tea leaves from China. Thailand waived tariffs on tea products from Southeast Asian nations and China which reciprocally did so for Thailand. Myanmar still imposes a 5% tariff on Thai tea products. (TNA)
