Thailand has withdrawn plans to restrict the businesses of foreign retail stores over fears of trade retaliation from countries such as Britain and France.
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The controversial legislation was proposed in order to regulate foreign retailers and protect the country’s smaller retailers. Several smaller Thai-owned shops and suppliers had accused foreign retailers of unfair pricing practices. The Thai government announced in August plans to restrict the opening hours of foreign retail outlets in a bid to protect domestic retailers. The plans were dropped, however, because Thailand began to fear that some countries would retaliate under international trade rules, endangering Thai export sales.
Foreign-owned stores in Thailand have annual sales of up to 200bn baht (US$4.6bn). Tesco Lotus, the Thai unit of UK supermarket retailer Tesco, controls 31% of the Thai market. Big C, a unit of France’s Casino, controls a 24% market share in Thailand, while France’s Carrefour has 14%, reported Reuters.
