Gems, jewellery industry to seek govt support

The proposal is to be made at a meeting on December 4 between Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and chief executive officers of key industries, mainly in food, gems and jewellery, and services.

The meeting is aimed at voicing private enterprises’ opinions and complaints.

Somchai Phornchindarak, president of the Gems, Jewelry and Precious Metal Confederation of Thailand (GJPCT) and former president of the Thai Gems and Jewellery Association, said his industry was facing four key problems: Shortage of skilled labour, lack of support for research and development, low financial liquidity, and the high cost of importing raw materials.

During the upcoming meeting, the industry will address those four problems and ask for the government’s support in dealing with them.

To help promote this industry, which provides one of the Kingdom’s top 10 export products, Somchai said the government should waive import tariffs for raw materials for enterprises that aim to re-export.

The association will also encourage the government to waive value-added tax (VAT) for gems and jewellery sales within the country, as most buyers are foreigners, while Thais normally buy only gold.

The association also wants the government to allocate some funding for R&D in the industry, as well as increasing skilled labour. During the past five years, the industry has seen a reduction in workers, particularly skilled labourers, to fewer than a million from more than 1.2 million, Somchai said.

Moreover, the GJPCT will call for the government to increase liquidity for small and medium-sized enterprises in the gems and jewellery sector, as they have faced problems accessing soft loans. The government could re-establish the Gem Bank project, which should be administrated by a private organisation, so that it will better operated and can release soft loans to help SMEs in the industry.

If the government can support these plans, Somchai believes the Thai share of gems and jewellery products in the world market could double from the current 2 per cent to 4 per cent within five years.

Currently, the global value of gems and jewellery trading is about US$500 billion (Bt17.9 trillion) a year.

With signs of a recovery in global trading, Thai exports of gems and jewellery are expected to grow by 5 per cent next year from this year’s approximate value of $10 billion.

In addition, to promote more domestic sales of gems and jewellery to foreign tourists, the GJPCT will urge the Tourism Ministry to put Bangkok gems and jewellery fairs on the travelling calendar, to be held every six months.

The association will also encourage the promotion of trading streets specialising in gems, jewellery and ornaments as symbolic tourist destinations. For instance, Charoen Krung Road and Khaosan Road could be promoted as silver-ornaments trading streets, Yaowarat Road as a gold street, and Silom and Mahesak as precious-stones streets.

Malee Choklumlerd, director-general of the International Trade Promotion Department, said her agency would also voice concerns and sum up proposals from other industries at the meeting with Prayut so that the government can draw concrete strategies to drive trade growth for particular industries.

She said exports were expected to recover next year amid global trading recovery and higher demand for agricultural crops and goods in many markets, especially in Asean, the United States, and emerging countries.