SME jewellers and silversmiths need assistance

SME jewellers and silversmiths need assistance

Small and medium d jewellers and silversmiths require more help with promotion from the government sector so that they will be able to export their products and compete on regional and international markets.

Many jewellers and silversmiths face problems exporting their products at this moment as they have to pay high tax.

In addition, most produce a small quantity of goods so it's not suited to the current tax arrangements, according to Mr Phouvong Phamisith, President of the Lao Gem and Jewelry Traders' Association.

In the past they've exported products via export companies but it cuts into their income, he said.

Mr Phouvong said many countries, in particular Germany and Thailand, were interested in their silver products when they have put it on display at exhibitions and some ordered large quantities of the product.

However he said they couldn't respond to the demand as it required them to invest a lot of money to produce the jewellery.

“We have skilled jewellers and silversmiths to produce quality products,” he said, “however the numbers of those are limited and it is difficult to compete with other countries.”

“So we need promotion and support from the government sector to train and enhance the skills of young jewellers and silversmiths.”

In addition, Lao jewellers need the government sector to consider tax payments on export products, he said.

Mr Phouvong said they had recently considered establishing clusters and if they were established, it would help them solve export problems and further develop their skills and products.

“We've successfully established clusters of silk, handicrafts, wooden furniture and organic rice in the past, which helped Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SME) operators cut their production capital and access to overseas markets,” he said.

Mr Phouvong noted that neighbouring countries have good promotion policies so they can produce and export large quantities of products.

“We have to compete with those countries so good promotion from the governm ent sector is necessary for SME operators,” he emphasised.

There is no specific policy for SME operators to export products at this moment however they can export their products depending on their conditions and capacity, according to Deputy Director General of the SMEs Promotion Depa rtment Mr Sa Siriphong.

They should have a license to export their products in accordance with the regulations of Ministry of Industry and Commerce but this can a problem for SMEs due to the small amounts being traded.

Mr Sa said his department would study this problem and find the ways to improve the arrangements for small traders.

vientiane times