Shop N' Ship

For many years tourists have been coming to Thailand to buy fake Calvin Klein jeans and Lacoste polo shirts. But gradually the Thai authorities and Customs services in foreign countries have been enforcing intellectual property law to restrict the import of pirated merchandise. Small quantities for personal use whilst against the law have been tolerated but anyone arriving at Heathrow with a suitcase full of fake jeans and T-shirts beware the party is over and now HMC mean business.

While the trade in pirated goods is being targeted, Thailand's legitimate garment trade is flourishing. Thailand currently has bilateral textile agreements with 18 countries, which are USA, Canada, Norway and the European Union (Austria, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, Denmark, Greece, Denmark, Greece, Spain, Finland, France, United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Sweden).

Recently we met with an entrepreneur from Hampshire in England who had come to Thailand to buy Thai Silk to retail in the UK for the Christmas market. Using her contacts in Thailand she was able to source silk shirts, trousers, scarves and boxer shorts wholesale, buying in dozen multiples in Pratunam and China Town for less 50 % of the street price they where being sold to tourist who thought they were getting a bargain. For example an elegant long sleeve blouse B120, a sleeveless silk top was B60 and silk boxer shorts B50 a pair. Decisions had to be made or more realistically guesses taken as to which size and colour would be the more popular in the duller light of England. Colour that look fantastic in the bright sunlight of Thailand can look over the top or even gaudy when they are worn back home. The Spring/Summer collect was bundled into half a dozen plastic bin bags, piled on a sack barrow and trundled off to Petburi road in search of a taxi or a tuk tuk. The non-glamorous end of the rag trade.

The shopping completed she now had to apply Textile Division of the Department of Foreign Trade for an Export License and Certificate of Origin for items in the quota restriction category which were men's shirts, ladies blouses and trousers and just the Certificate of Origin for the other items. To show that the goods are for export it is necessary to produce an invoice with prices in US$ that shows the name, address and contact details for which the goods are being sent to. Most government departments in Thailand are not known for their speed but the essential bundle of paperwork was delivered to our entrepreneur's representative office within 48 hours of applications.

Our Entrepreneur had already established with the Dept of Trade & Industry and HM Customs that the goods she was importing didn't require an Import license and had also obtained all the Customs codes for clearance in UK. Postal rates for packages airmail to UK has a maximum weight of 30 kgs were B286 per kg for a shipment of this size. All the major airlines were quoting a rate of B208 per kg for a consignment with a total weight in excess of 100kg, but DHL's Jumbo Box worked out at B188, which included collection from her representatives office in Bangkok and delivery from Heathrow to her office close to Southampton. Another plus in using DHL is that the shipment can be tracked in the Internet by e-mailing track@dhl.com with the Air Way Bill number in the subject field. This allows both the shipper and importer to see when the goods were collected, departed country of origin, arrived destination, cleared customs and finally delivered to the customer.

Textile Division, Department of Foreign Trade, 4 Sanamchai Rd. Pranakorn, Bangkok 10200, (66-2-225 1915-29, Ext 305 tex_infor@mocnet.go.th).

Foreign Trade Services, Building A, Rajdamneon Ave. Bangkok 10200, (66-2-281-6767,282-0824, 629-1524-5, sci_infor@mocnet.moc.go.th).

DHL International (Thailand) Ltd, Grand Amarin Tower, 22nd Fl, 1550 New Petchaburi Rd, Bangkok 10320, (66-2-207 0600, fax 66-2-207 0630).