Govt prepares dairy sector for FTA commitment

BANGKOK, Dec 24 (TNA) – Commerce officials have met with dairy farmers to discuss commitments for the Thai - Australia and Thai - New Zealand free trade agreements. Deputy director-general of the Department of Trade Negotiations Oramon Sapthaweetham revealed that she had led a delegation of officials from the Department of Livestock Development and the Dairy Cooperative Federation of Thailand to meet with northern dairy farmers on December 21 - 22 to discuss the looming commencement of FTA agreements between Thailand and Australia and Thailand and New Zealand which will require Thailand to commit to zero tariffs on dairy and dairy products imports in 2021 and 2025. The meeting with dairy farms and associated dairy operators on this occasion was to inform them of the details of Thailand's commitments and receive their feedback. It was agreed that the Department of Livestock Development would help local dairy farms to reduce livestock feed overheads and support them in better farm management to increase production efficiency. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Commerce will handle branding and expand foreign markets such as to Myanmar, China and Cambodia where demand for high quality dairy products is high. In the long run, it is hoped that this will provide Thailand with the necessary competitiveness under free trade conditions. As of January 1, 2016 Thailand has already reduced tariffs on milk, unsweetened cream and buttermilk to zero. What remains are for the reduction of restrictions by 2021 on other dairy products from Australia and New Zealand such as dairy products with fat content not exceeding 1.5% (not for infants), Whey proteins, Anhydrous Milk Fat (AMF) and cheese. Following this, no quotas and zero tariffs on dairy cream, flavored milk and fat-free powdered milk will be become effective by 2025. (TNA)