More e-commerce trade platform offered to Thai SMEs

BANGKOK, December 17 (TNA) - Thailand's small and medium sized-enterprises (SMEs) now have more room to promote and sell their products through the e-commerce system on a largest Chinese online platform, the JD.com website, thanks to a latest agreement concluded by the Thai Ministry of Commerce and the Beijing-based JD Group. Thai Commerce Minister Sontirat Sontijirawong on Monday witnessed a ceremony on the signing of the agreement between his ministry's Department of International Trade Promotion, Central JD Commerce Ltd., a business arm in Bangkok of the China-based JD Group and the JD Group itself, aimed to boost sale volumes and enhance the competitiveness of the Thai SMEs. The minister said under the agreement, the Department of International Trade Promotion, Central JD Commerce Ltd. and the JD Group will work together to concretely promote for expanding sale volumes of Thai SMEs' products on the JD.com website through their joint moves, including the launch of training programs on the cross-border e-commerce (CBEC) system, which has been increasingly popular and frog-leap growing in China, and a business matching initiative for Chinese and Thai e-commerce traders. The Thai minister acknowledged that the Chinese government has paid attention to and supported the CBEC system through official business facilitations and tax incentives, namely the waiver of customs tariffs on products bought by consumers through online platforms under the CBEC system. "Under new regulations to be enforced by the Chinese government next year, each consumer in China will be, for instance, offered a waiver of customs tariffs for products he or she buys through the CBEC system, at the total value of no more than 5,000 yuan each time or no more than 26,000 yuan yearly, or about 123,000 baht a year, while sellers are supported with cheaper costs by 20-50 per cent by allowing to pay less value-added and excise taxes, about 30 per cen less than the rates paid by other sellers who do not trade through the CBEC system. Besides, products allowed to be traded on the CBEC system will be increased to 1,300 items with more relaxing official procedures and a faster delivery period to 3-7 days, from 15 days currently", the minister explained. According to the minister, the JD Group last year earned over 55 billion US dollars from the e-commerce through its JD.com website, which was visited by over 300 million users mostly looking for fresh food and other consumer goods, namely fashion, electronic and household decoration products, all of them are also potential Thai exports. The minister projected that through the business matching initiative under Monday's agreement, the e-commerce under his ministry-supported Thailand.com alone should double next year, from over 1.7 billion baht this year. Meanwhile, the Bank of Thailand (BOT) suggested that SMEs in the Thai economy further enhance their competitiveness through more use of advanced technologies, the reduction of their business procedures in order to cut their costs and cope with the growing competition on the world market and develop the unique identity of their separate products to attract more consumers and boost their sale volumes. (TNA)