From panel spraying, frame welding to fittings assembly, these are the workshops of a factory of China's electronic giant Haier in Thailand. The products were so familiar, and so was the scene of lots of identical, nearly- finished refrigerators queuing on the assembly lines. Only one thing: the workers here are all Thais.

The factory of China's Haier Electric PCL in Prachinburi province, Thailand, was purchased by Haier three years ago, Ding Gaofeng, the assistant manager in charge of refrigerator workshops, told Xinhua reporter.

It is the first factory that Haier ever owned in Thailand as well as in Southeast Asia, he said.

"I believe this is also the first time that a Chinese electric brand makes a large-scale presence in Thailand's market," the manager said, adding that Japanese and South Korean brands have been dominating this market for decades.

He was confident that more and more made-in-China electric products will enter Thailand and other ASEAN markets soon following the establishment of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area ( FTA) on January 1 this year and the gradual implementation of the FTA terms.

The China-ASEAN FTA was officially launched at the beginning of 2010. It covers an area of 13,000,000 square kilometers, with a population of 1.9 billion and nearly US$4.5-trillion trade volume.

The enterprises of both China and the 10 ASEAN countries, namely, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, will benefit from the free trade terms in goods, service and investment.

Talking about the immediate benefit that the Haier factory can get from FTA, Ding showed Xinhua reporter two modern-style friges, one black-colored and one white, both of them sleek and slim.

"The two models were designed by our own designers in Thailand, and they adopts the air-cooling technique for refrigeration, which are more widely used in Thailand's frige production and less common in China," he said.

Ding said the two frige models have been so popular in Japan that Haier is going to sell them in China, since many Chinese consumers like this kind of frost-free model but can hardly find them in domestic market.

The models are manufactured by the factory in Thailand, so importing them to China now can enjoy zero tariff, which in turn reduced the cost, he added.

Meanwhile, other electric appliances made in Thailand and other ASEAN countries now can enter China's market under zero tariff, too, Ding said.

"Refrigerator is our main product since Haier itself started its business decades ago from frige production. Last year (2009) the factory's frige output is 900,000, with a large part of them selling to OEM (Original Equipment Manufacture) Manufacturers," said Ding, who came from Shandong province, China one year ago and since then has been in charge of the refrigerator manufacture here.

The sale of Haier friges in Thailand's market last year is about 50,000 sets, Ding said, adding their target for 2012 is 150, 000 sets, which means the biggest market share in the country. " Haier aims to be the No. 1 frige brand in Thailand," Ding said.

Wu Yong, the general manager of Haier Electric (Thailand) PCL, said his company has its own research and development team of more than 300 people, and now has expand to four product lines: refrigerator, washing machine, air conditioner and cold cabinet. So far the factory here has drawn investment of 100,000,000 baht ( about US$3 million) from China's Haier group, its parent company, and has provided 2,500 job opportunities to local people.

"The founding of the FTA will give more momentum to the enterprises, both of China and of ASEAN, to expand their business to each other's market," said Wu, "The FTA means the gradual clearance of tariff barrier and the smoother flow of goods, investment and service."

It is a good opportunity for ASEAN electric appliances to enter China's market under the FTA framework, Wu said. He named the made- in-Thailand refrigerators as an example, which have an edge over its Chinese counterparts in air-cooling technique and therefore whose competitiveness should never be neglected.

China's electric goods are still in ASEAN's sensitive products list. So the electrical appliances exporting to those countries have to pay tariff till 2018, Wu said,

Nevertheless, Chinese electric enterprises may make full use of the eight years ahead to map out their strategy in ASEAN markets, said the manager.

(Xinhua News Agency January 26, 2010)