Air-con firms seek rebate

       Air-conditioner producers are asking the government to extend excise tax waivers to their inventories, as recently approved tax waivers would immediately make it tougher to sell their huge existing stocks.
       Most manufacturers currently have high stocks, as sales have been sluggish in the slowdown, said Phairat Uechooyos, chairman of the air-conditioning and refrigerator club of the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI).
       The industry estimates it has about 100,000 air-conditioner units in stock, for which it claims to have paid more than 500 million baht in excise tax.
       Producers would face an immediate loss if they discounted their stocks in line with the tax waivers, he said.
       "We are calling on the Excise Department to provide a tax refund for existing stocks to help ease the manufacturers' financial burden," he said.
       "The cancellation of excise tax is good to improve the industry's performance and increase employment and competitiveness in this sector, but the government and private sector should help each other to tackle this difficulty during the transition period."
       Cabinet ministers agreed this week to waive excise taxes for air-conditioners of up to 72,000 British thermal units (BTU) per hour. Duties will be cut from 15% to zero to help the domestic air-conditioner industry.
       The tax cut would take 2,300 baht off the retail price of air-conditioners with a range of 9,000 to 18,000 BTU and 2,100 baht for units with a range of 13,000 to 18,000 BTU.
       Thailand has about 178 air-conditioner producers. About 60 are local small and medium-sized enterprises and the rest are joint-venture firms, international brands and large-scale producers.
       The industry produced about 17 million air-conditioning units last year. Facing the major challenge of falling export orders, most producers now rely on domestic sales.
       The Excise Department generated 1.7 billion baht from excise taxes on air conditioners last year, representing 0.63% of total excise tax collection.
       Air-conditioner exports were worth 300 billion baht last year, up from 100 billion five years ago.