Trends and opportunities: Wine to Thailand(2)

            Industry standards
            Control of the importing, marketing, distribution and sale of
            alcoholic beverages in Thailand is shared between various government
            bodies. The Excise Department (EXD) is the main authority, but the
            Ministry of Finance, the Customs Department and the Revenue
            Department also hold responsibilities.
            The EXD's responsibilities include labelling, licensing, product
            quality control and environmental issues. The Food and Drug
            Administration (FDA), in coordination with the EXD, ensures that
            companies adhere to regulations concerning alcohol advertising and,
            alcohol in the media generally.
            All labels must contain the following information in Thai or
English:
            Name and brand of the product
            Details of sole importer/distributor including name, company address
            and telephone number
            Details of the manufacturer including company name and source of
            product
            Net weight/volume of product
            Percentage of alcohol content
            There must also be a health warning on the label/sticker printed in
            Thai. The size of the letters must be larger than two millimetres
            and stand out from the background.
            There are no specific requirements for packaging or containers
            except that seals or container lids must be suitable for the
            placement of the excise stamp.
            Marketing your products and services
            Market entry
            Before any wines can be imported into Thailand, each individual
            label of the wine must be registered with the Excise Department of
            the Ministry of Finance in Thailand. Once the registration is
            completed, an import permit will be issued allowing that particular
            company to import the wine.
            Only a Thai company can register a wine and apply for an import
            permit.  Therefore you must appoint a local importer/distributor to
            handle the importing and government formalities.
            Once your wines are in the Thai market, an effective marketing
            strategy would be to conduct food and wine promotions at leading
            hotels, in conjunction with local importers/distributors, aimed at
            your target audience.
            Austrade can assist with the search for potential wine importers or
            organise wine tasting functions for wine exporters that have yet to
            establish contact in Thailand with the aim of reaching target groups
            and potential importers/distributors.
            A key determinant in the Thai market is the pricing, which must be
            competitive with other imported wines.
            There is no industry news for wine available in English. Industry
            statistics are available from the Royal Thai Customs Department.
            Distribution channels
            Wine importers also act as distributors, through four major
channels:
            Wholesalers
            Retail trade - hypermarket, supermarket and convenience stores
            Hotels and entertainment venues
            Specialty wine shops
            Although wholesalers may on-sell to the other three channels, there
            is an agreement that there should be no overlap. Traditionally,
            between 30?0 per cent of wines are sold on-premise, but the trend
            is changing towards the retail trade.
            A sole importer must handle imported alcohol products in Thailand.
            In most cases, it is a distributor importing the product.
            Transport
            Airfreight is used to ship product samples in small quantities. This
            takes one day from Australia to Thailand. Qantas freight and British
            Airways air cargo transport goods between major ports in Australia
            and Thailand.
            Large volumes of products are transported by sea freight. Sea
            freight takes two weeks from Australia to Thailand. It is advisable
            to consider your options carefully to avoid adding significant cost
            to your exports.
            Once imported products arrive in Thailand and duties have been paid,
            they can be transported freely within the country. You should
            consider a good freight forwarder, insurance company and customs
            broker for shipping your product to Thailand. It is advisable to
            investigate a variety of service providers.