อุตสาหกรรมเครื่องใช้และอุปกรณ์ไฟฟ้า : การวิเคราะห์เชิงนโยบาย / ศิริกุล จงธนสารสมบัติ = Policy analysis of the consumer electronics and electrical goods industry / Sirikul Jongtanasarsombat
The consumer electronics and electrical industry has been in existence for about 20 years. Currently it is still oriented toward domestic market, but has recently developed capacity to export some products. It relies largely on imported raw materials and components. Given the market constraint, the producers cannot fully utilize their capacity, which lead to higher cost of production. The situation is aggravated by the fierce competition from smuggled goods as well as products of illegally established plants. Though their prices are much lower, those goods with mediocre quality may be harmful to the consumers the other problem is concentration of the industry in Bangkok, Samutprakarn and Nodhaburi. In light of these problems, the objectives of the study are to: (1) analyse the present state of the industry in terms of structure of production and trade, input situation, technological capabilities, location, etc., (2) review and discuss the government policy and measure that serve to assist and inhibit the growth of the industry; and (3) identify structural problem and propose a set of government actions for structural readjustment program. Inter alia, the implications on industrial growth, imports, and government revenue will be analysed and taken into account. For analytical purpose, the nominal and effective protective rate technique and the simple regression technique are employed. The study finds out that the differentiated protection structure is mainly responsible for inefficient expansion of the industry. The tariff structure is favourable to production for domestic comsumption but is biased against exporting. It also discriminates against production of components, since higher tariff rates are imposed on intermediate inputs rather than on finished components. In effect, development of the industry lies in the stage of assemblying. Moreover, prohibitively high tariff and business tax rates have resulted in the proliferation of illegally established factories and the influx of smuggled goods. Incase of business tax, firms tend to minimize direct taxation of their products by vertically integrating the stages of production. This is reflected in limited cases of subcontracting arrangement. Other factors affecting the efficient development of the industry are the lack of action program to assist the small-scale and rural industries, insufficient export promotion, and lack of technology and manpower planning to satisfy the industry’s requirement. The policy implication is that, there is urgent need to undertake structural adjustment in the industry. The measures to be implemented should include; (1) tax reform to create a more uniformity in protection structure; (2) improvement in export promotion program covering adjustment in tax rebate rates, extend the payback period for Export Promissory Note, set up an Export Credit Insurance Institution, and various trade measures by the Ministry of Commerce; (3) technology development program; and (4) promotion for the extensive application of industrial standards. The study has investigated and confirmed the feasibility of these measures.
