The Impacts of Thailand - Australia Free Trade Area (TAFTA) on automotive/ auto parts and accessories exporters in Thailand

Abstract

This research aims to study the impacts of Thailand-Australia Free Trade Area (TAFTA) on automotive/ auto parts and accessories exporters in Thailand. The research focused on attitude of the Thai exporters before and after Thailandhasannouncedandimplementedthe TAFTA. Thesamplesof theresearch were210exportcompanies whichcame from probabilitysamplingandsystematic random samplingtechniques. Accordingtothe analysis,five consecutive years information of the Thai export trend were investigated in order to forecast the automotive/ auto partsandaccessoriesexport trendinthefuture whilePairedSample T-testand Kendall’s taub Correlation wereused toinvestigate the differences of means and the relation of TAFTA and the Thai exporters. The findings indicate that after the introduction of TAFTA, there has been an increase in the placement of orders, the net profits, and the amount of exported products on the part of the Thai exporters.  TAFTA has been showed to facilitate customs procedures.  However, one of the drawbacks that the Thai exporters have experienced is thenon-tariffbarriers intheform of stricter testing methodsandhigher standards. This, inturn,has ledtoahigher competition level within the domestic market for automobiles, auto parts, and auto accessories.  With respect to the exporters’ attitudes towards trade with Australia, the Thai exporters have been optimistic about the potentials for tradetiesandjointventures.  Intermsofbusinessnegotiationsandgovernmentalsupport, the Thaiexportershave significantlygivenpositivefeedbackfollowingtheintroductionof TAFTA.  Thus, itcanbeconcludedthat TAFTA, while making the domestic market more competitive, has produced a positive impact upon the Thai exporters. In the mean time, TAFTA has caused non-tariff barriers and these barriers have led the Thai exporters to inevitably encounter the increasing of cost as well as the complexity of exporting processes.