The Thai Industrial Standards Institute (TISI) has been ordered by the Ministry of Industry to increase checks the quality of more than 1,000 Chinese-made products being sold online in Thailand, as local industrialists claim that cheap and substandard products from China are affecting local products.
Industry Minister Pimpatra Wichaikul said today that the ministry is also considering imposing taxes on the E-commerce in Chinese-made products, to ensure fairness to local producers who have to pay taxes to the state.
Pimpatra Wichaikul, Industry Minister
According to TISI, substandard goods worth more than 300 million baht, and available for online and offline purchase, were seized between last September and July this year, 29% of which, worth about 92 million baht, were imported from China.
TISI Secretary-General Wanchai Panomchai said that the TISI has imposed quality standards on an additional 1,400 products, on top of 2,722 products already on the list, to ensure public safety.
Wanchai Panomchai, TISI Secretary-General
Furthermore, he said TISI officials have educated delivery services about the law and customs protocols with which they are required to comply, to limit the import of substandard goods.
Fresh fruits and vegetables, arriving in Thailand on the China-Lao high-speed train, are flooding fresh markets in Nakhon Ratchasima, to the extent that many shoppers have switched from local products to the Chinese imports due to their better quality and lower prices.
A greengrocer in the Mae Kim Heng fresh market, Sa-ngad Sardmaroeng, said that she orders Chinese vegetables because they are cheaper, have more variety and are available year round.
For an instance, a pack of Origi mushroom costs her only 10 baht and she sells it for 20 baht. She admitted that the price is so cheap that Thai vegetable farmers are unable to compete and may soon be driven out of business.
She also said that the Chinese fruits and vegetables are nicely packaged but, more importantly, are much cheaper than local products, about 50% less.
It takes about a day for the Chinese products to arrive, by high-speed train, in north-eastern Thailand through Laos.
