Among the 144 items the new system will be trialled on are garments, fashion products, agricultural products, automobiles, motorcycles and wines.

The department will begin with goods shipped through the country’s two largest deep-sea ports, Laem Chabang Port and Bangkok Port, said Kulit Sombatsiri, its director-general.

The measure came after the department found it might miss its fiscal 2016 (October 2015-September 2016) tax-collection target by Bt6 billion.

Of the amount, Bt2.4 billion is earmarked to come from free-trade agreements the country signed with trading partners, and the rest from other items.

That would be about 9 per cent short of this fiscal year’s revenue target of Bt120 billion.

Kulit said the department was developing a mobile application to reduce officials using their own judgement on product price-setting, product details, sources of production and customs tariff rates. The upgraded system will be proposed to Finance Minister Apisak Tantivorawong for consideration.

The department will also put more stringent controls on shipping agencies that pass on lower-than-actual prices for imported products to customers. The department will directly relay prices to importers.

Warnings will be given to shipping agencies which do not follow the rules, with the worst offenders put on a blacklist. Importers will be alerted about offending agencies.

Shipping agents

Of the some 12,000 shipping agencies, only about 3,000 are registered with the Custom Broker and Transportation Association.

Unlike those unregistered agencies, registered shipping companies normally process transactions with the Customs Department online with less difficulty concerning price declarations.

Furthermore, Kulit said that the department was in the process of assessing the pre-arrival processing system, which was designed to cut the processing time for imports to six hours. The system has been used at Laem Chabang Port.

If the assessment comes out satisfactorily, the system will be extended to Suvarnabhumi International Airport for air freight in early fiscal 2017, he said.

Moreover, private enterprises expect the European Union to cancel its “yellow card” on the industry, or at least refrain for another six months from issuing a red card, after it sees the serious attempts made to tackle human trafficking and illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

After the United States upgraded Thailand to the Tier 2 Watch List in its Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, Poj Aramwattananont, chairman of the Thai Fishery Producers Coalition (TFPC), said that with better consumer confidence on Thai labour issues, fishery exports should grow stronger this year.

The coalition reported that export of seafood products was down 1.25 per cent in the first half of this year because of lower demand in the world market.

However, private exporters foresee a positive outcome from the TIP Report upgrade.

“Thai exports have passed the lowest level and should recover in the second half of the year. Although result of the Brexit [vote] may cause the exchange rate to fluctuate, exporters expect theBank of Thailand and the Finance Ministry to monitor currency movements closely in order to prevent impacts on Thai export growth,” Poj said.

He said the fact that the US had shown more confidence in Thai labour standards should persuade the EU to recognise the attempt of the Thai government and private enterprises to tackle human trafficking and IUU fishing.

He added that although a better status in the TIP Report has been achieved, the government and private enterprises would continue to tackle human trafficking and get rid off illegal employment as well as create fair practices for all labourers and focus on sustainable fishing.

The TFPC, which comprises eight fishery-related associations, has expressed its deep appreciation for the government’s promotion of sustainable fishing and for tackling trafficking.

According to officials from the regulators of ports, the government has called for the study to be expediated in light of the developments in Singapore that recently launched the construction of the first phase of a mega port in Tuas that will eventually have a capacity to handle 65 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).

“The economic council is looking into this matter on how to help the local port operators compete effectively against Singapore’s move. One option is to allow the domestic ports to increase their capacity so that they can achieve economies of scale,” said an official.

Singapore and Malaysia are the only two Southeast Asian countries that are in the list of the world’s top 20 busiest container ports. Both countries’ ports have been banking on traffic plying through the Straits of Malacca, which is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world connecting the West to the Far East.

Singapore which is the world’s second largest port handled 33.87 TEUs while Port Klang was at 12th place with 10.95 million TEUs in 2014.

The volume from Port Klang comes from Northport and Westports.

Malaysia’s other notable port is the Port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP) that is ranked at 18th place handling 8.5 million TEUs in the same year. In April, Singapore launched the first phase of its mega port in Tuas that will have an annual capacity of 20 million TEUs.

The 30-year development, when completed, will see Tuas mega port equipped with total annual capacity of 65 million TEUs following the country’s plan to move all its port activities in one place. The objective is to improve efficiency and cost.

The existing ports in Tanjong Pagar and Pasir Panjang would be redeveloped for other purposes including property developments.

As for Malaysia, the initial suggestion from the consultants helping the World Bank in its national port study is that the country needs to improve on growing its hinterland traffic.

Hong Kong-based consulting firm ICF International that is working with the World Bank on the study had said that while Malaysia had been successful in capturing increasing amounts of transhipment container volumes, consistently gaining share from Singapore since 2004, it was comparatively less successful in charting growth in hinterland (import-export) container and bulk volumes, particularly outside of the primary Port Klang complex.

It stated that international competition for port market share has intensified across South-East Asia (SEA), not only in traditional powerhouses like Singapore and Hong Kong, but in emerging, aspiring hubs like Vietnam and Indonesia that also have hinterlands that attract manufacturing and other import-export activity. The national port study with recommendations was supposed to have been completed in the first quarter of this year but has been delayed.

Reacting to the development in Tuas, Westports chief executive officer Ruben Emir Gnanalingam (pic) told StarBiz that it was a long-term project and he believed that there was a lot of room for transhipment volumes to grow in Southeast Asia.

Duangporn Rodphaya, director-general at the department, said many countries were now stringent about MRL on farm products which are beyond the CODEX standard, creating a higher burden for Thai exporters.

Thai exporters will need to adjust themselves and ensure that they can trace back to farm crops to meet the higher standard required by importing countries.

Products for which Thailand will face stringent measures are rice, tea leaves, vegetables, tuber crops and pome-|granate.

Canada announced its new MRL requirement on May 15, while the US will announce its MRL measure soon.

At the Myanmar Banking and Finance Conference 2016 last week, Prof Aung Tun Thet, an economist and adviser to Myanmar’s Federation of Chamber of Commerce and Industry, noted that SMEs now rely on bank credit for business expansion amid fierce competition from imported products. However, they are facing credit constraints and this should be tackled.

The official statistics show that there are 126,237 registered SMEs in Myanmar, accounting for 99.4 per cent of overall companies across the country.

“Most of our SMEs are under pressure from cheaper imports and foreign competition. They are constrained by non-competitive exchange rates, cumbersome bureaucratic procedures, the poor state of infrastructure, lack of effective institutional structure, and limited access to finance,” he said.

He proposed a wide range of financing alternatives. Specific assets such as accounts receivables, inventory, machinery, equipment and real estate should be allowed to back bank loans.

Meanwhile, the bond market should be developed to allow SMEs to raise funds. SMEs should also be introduced to hybrid instruments.

Financing issues aside, he said local small businesses were weak as they have limited awareness and understanding of alternative instruments. In the medium and long term, enabling the regulatory framework and supportive financial infrastructure would be needed for them to maintain sustainability.

The government should consider more tax incentives and training.

He said SMEs played a key role in Myanmar’s economic development and largely contributes to employment creation, investment, growth, and innovation, as they can generate significant domestic and export earnings. Small businesses should be utilised as a key instrument in poverty reduction.

Janet Hyde, investment specialist with Asian Development Bank’s trade finance programme (TFP), said trade finance would be a key pillar to boost Myanmar’s economic growth.

“Myanmar’s economy is still largely cash-based, which means importers are paid for their parts on remittance basis, sometimes in advance of receiving their shipment. This practice is very straightforward and expensive. We do not think it is really in the long-term business interest of companies in the country. Small companies, in particular, are exposed to unfair business terms,” she said.

ADB aims to partner with local banks and trading firms to support trade finance in Myanmar. Last October, it signed an agreement with CB Bank to provide up to US$12 million per annum to support the trade finance operations of the bank. This marked the first TFP facility to assist the trade finance capacity of a local bank in Myanmar. This move would allow banks in the US, Europe, Singapore, Thailand, China and elsewhere to work with Myanmar banks to support more trade with Myanmar companies.

“Our facilities will aim to create traditional trade finance capacity for local banks effectively by creating their existing lines and new banking relationship… I am thinking of good infrastructure, telecommunication equipment and power plants that fill ongoing infrastructure building in the country. We will also support SMEs so that even small companies can have a share of Myanmar’s growth prospects. This will have a direct impact on impending growth and job creation and smaller enterprises… We will focus on more trade finance banks in Myanmar and our target in SMEs is part of our strategy,” she said.

“Advertising spending by our clients has been picking up, with at least 25 per cent year-on-year growth for this month. This is a sign of recovery for the rest of this year,” said Wannee Rattanaphon, chairwoman of IPG Mediabrands, the advertising-media arm of the Interpublic Group (IPG).

Advertising expenditure during the first half is expected to post a decline after the total figure during the first five months reported by Nielsen Thailand showed an 8.5-per-cent decrease to Bt46.15 billion from Bt50.44 billion in the same period last year.

Manee Eabe, managing director of Magna Global of IPG Mediabrands, said the third quarter was typically the industry’s peak season, as brands and corporates would inject their marketing budgets via media outlets to stimulate customers’ demand, boosting their sales by year-end.

“Local businesses are also expected to benefit from the government’s infrastructure spending and Pracha Rath grass-roots economic policy,” Manee explained.

Apart from that, marketing campaigns related to global sports events such as the 15th Uefa European Championship, the FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix, and the Summer Olympics were supporting factors for the advertising industry for the remaining months of the year.

Surin Krittayaphongphun, acting president of Bangkok Entertainment Company, the operator of Channel 3, said his company was an official broadcaster of the Euro 2016 soccer tournament, which runs from June 10 to July 10. So far, the sponsorship packages have been almost fully booked by clients. The packages for the Volleyball World Grand Prix Final have followed suit.

Although sporting events are key factors in attracting advertising expenditure from local brands and companies to television channels, Surin said many brands were experimenting with new marketing-communication strategies by allocating part of their advertising budgets to online media.

In line with this trend, television advertising, even on digital channels, has faced a drop. According to Nielsen’s report for the January-to-May period, ad spending on analog TV stations dropped by 11.24 per cent to Bt21.68 billion from Bt24.42 billion in the same period last year, while spending on digital TV ads fell by almost 10 per cent to Bt7.82 billion from Bt8.67 billion.

Suparanan Tanviruch, chief executive officer of Master Ad, a provider of out-of-home advertising media, said this was a result of the change in consumers’ behaviour driven by the emergence of digital media.

“To deal with the ongoing change, out-of-home also needs to adopt an integrated marketing-communication service for our clients,” she said.

Master Ad hopes to see its revenue grow by at least 15 per cent this year after investing about Bt500 million to add more billboards in the provinces both organically and through mergers and acquisitions of local companies. “Amid the economic slowdown, market consolidation is expected to be seen in the remaining months,” she said.

She said it would also help the marketing and packaging development for products.

“The world market value of organic is worth US$72 billion (Bt2.3 trillion) and grows at an average rate of about 12.8 per cent each year,” she said.

“Yet, Thai products have still gained a less than 1-per-cent market share. The country, as an agricultural-based country, should focus on promoting organic farm crops and develop these products so that Thailand can become a centre of organic products growing and trading in theAsean and Asian regions.”

The United States, Germany, and France are three leading exporters of organic produce, respectively.

Asia has 23 million rai (3.7 million hectares) of land for growing organic products, or about 10 per cent of the total production area worldwide.

China has the most following by India.

Thailand is ranked eighth in the global market, and fourth in Asean.

Australia has the biggest area of land for growing organic products, following by Argentina and the United States, while India has the most people who grow organic products, following by Uganda, and Mexico.

Thailand has 3.7 square kilometres for growing organic crops. About 7,000 farmers are involved in organic farming, and they produce 80,000 tonnes of produce annually.

Thailand has the potential to export organic food worth about $135 million each year. Its major export markets are to the European Union, the US, and Singapore.

Apiradi said that Thailand could expand the growing area for organic crops and increase the supply to serve rising demand in the world market.

Under the five-year plan, four strategies will be focused on including a plan to increase the segment’s recognition among products, traders, and consumers, and a plan to support the country launching an organic certification and standard for farming.

There is also a plan to increase distribution channels for domestic trading and expand markets overseas, as well as promoting the segment via online marketing.

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol Friday said the government intended to achieve this goal in four cropping cycles.

Piñol earlier gave conflicting pronouncements on the new administration’s target.

Three weeks ago, following a transition meeting at the DA, Piñol said the Duterte government would maintain the aspiration for self-sufficiency except that there was no target date. He then said this could be attained within the next six years or even after Duterte’s term.

About a week later, in a Facebook post, Piñol said self-sufficiency – which he described as “tough but doable” – would be attained under Duterte’s leadership.

In his latest pronouncement, Piñol said DA regional directors should see to it the two-year objective was achieved in their respective areas or else they would lose their jobs.

“Some of you (regional directors) will be retained, some of you will have to say ‘goodbye,'” he said. “Those who will be retained will be rotated, because I’d like to gauge their performance based on their new assignments.”

He said he would give them all the support they would need, including provisions for irrigation, good seeds, fertilizer and farm inputs. “But I will give them the sack if they fail. This government is results oriented.”

Piñol said no one has the right to stay working in government if he or she was not effective in the job.

“We will build on the DA’s achievements under [predecessor Proceso Alcala] and fulfill their shortcomings,” he said. Alcala has drawn flak for not meeting the Aquino administration’s target of self-sufficiency by 2013.

When Alcala assumed office in mid-2010, the Philippines was producing 81 per cent of domestic rice demand. DA data show the Philippines is currently 97 per cent self-sufficient in rice.