Date – September 8, 2010

Porntiva Nakasai, Minister of Commerce, disclosed that her ministry expects Thailand to be the hub of the world’s jewelry and gem trade.

This year, the ministry expected the value from jewelry and gem exports to be about 390 billion Baht or $12 billion Baht, increasing from last year by 15% as during the first seven months, January – July, of this year, the rate has grown by 11.45% comparing to those seen in last year. The main partners of Thailand are Hong Kong, the US, Switzerland, for example.

Nanthawan Sakuntanak, the director-general of Department of Export Promotion, said jewelry and gem business is in the top ten of major exporting goods of the country. She said the value from this product has increased by 13.84% during the first half of this year.

“Jewelry and gems have grown continuously. This year we expect the value of exports in this business will increase by 14% because the world economy has recovered amid the extermination of value added tax for importing materials and the benefit from FTA that will decrease tax to be 0% under the agreements with AFTA, china and India. This will push the country’s jewelry and gem exports reaching to the highest goal and Thailand would become the hub of this product of the world,” the director-general said.