May 24, 2005

EU tax privilege for Thai shrimp to be restored

The tax privilege of Thai shrimp exports will finally be restored by the European Union on July 1.

This move was in line with the EU's policy of returning Generalised System Preferences to all countries affected by December's tsunami disaster.

Thailand enjoyed a trade surplus of Bt 200 billion with the EU in 2003 and was ranked third among export countries to the EU market.

The EU is a potentially important market for export promotion because it has a population of 450 million with high purchasing power and large sums of investment capital.