Abstract:
The objectives of research aim to; 1) study the preference of the Free Trade Agreements (FTA), and 2) study of the guidelines for increasing competitiveness by reducing import duty. The case studied company was an electronic product manufacturer, which was the most important export product is coffee machines to the world market. And the main raw materials must be largely imported from overseas, which was a high cost of import duty. The research was collected imported raw material data from December 1, 2020, to February 28, 2021. The ABC Analysis technique was conducted to prioritize a total of 95 imported raw materials. Then the cost of import duty was analyzed in 3 cases: 1) standard tariff rate 2) WTO tariff preferences and 3) FTA tariff preferences. The results revealed that the imported raw material in Group A has consisted of 10 items which are the main parts in the manufacturing of coffee machines. The raw materials in group A accounted for 80% of the total import value, which is an import tax of 471,006,827.49 baht. During the data collection period, the company will be able to reduce the import tax of raw materials at 259,992,288.61 baht or 45% under the WTO preference. In addition, raw material in Group A must qualify under the rules of origin (ROO) and ask for an FTA certificate from the exporter. The company will be able to exempt from the import duties of raw materials or 100% reduction under the FTA. It was recommended that the import of raw materials by claiming the FTA preferences can increase the international trade competitiveness of the case studied company.