Thai jewelers urged to increasingly capture ASEAN market

BANGKOK, July 12 (TNA) - Thai jewelers have been urged to speed up securing their business in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), with a total population of over 600 million, amid a downturn in the now debt-ridden eurozone economy. Opening a seminar, organized by the Gem and Jewelry Institute of Thailand in Bangkok on Wednesday, on strategies for Thai jewelries in the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) set to be established by 2015, Thai Deputy Commerce Minister Siriwat Kachornprasart acknowledged that the eurozone debt crisis will decrease Thai jewelry exports to Europe, but when the AEC is formed, it will then become an important market for Thai gems and jewelries, recommending that Thai operators turn to the emerging ASEAN market with high potential growth to reduce risks in other main markets. Thai Permanent Secretary for Commerce Siripol Yodmuangcharoen, in his capacity as the Chairman of the Gem and Jewelry Institute of Thailand, also noted that the Thai gem and jewelry industry has played important roles in the national economy, as Thai gem and jewelry exports earned the Kingdom over 190 billion baht last year and became the fourth largest source of export-related national incomes after computers, automobiles and rubber. Siripol said that the export value of Thai gems and jewelries, excluding unshaped gold, increased by as much as 18.42 per cent year-on-year in 2011. (TNA)