Utid Tamvatin, director-general of the department, said yesterday that he agreed in principle that exporters should be exempt from the excise levied on batteries in order to increase their global competitiveness.

Utid made the comment in response to a request from investors receiving tax privileges from the Board of Investment asking that they be exempted from the tax.

They said that their export products were free of value-added tax and import tariffs, as the government wanted to assist exporters. But it was inconsistent that they were liable for excise duty.

The issue is under review by the department, said Utid. The department collects battery duty on the grounds of environmental concerns.

Petrochemicals: Exxon/PTT tie-up with PTT Chemical

ExxonMobil Chemical Technology Licensing announced yesterday that it had signed a licensing agreement with PTT Chemical Plc for production of low-density polyethylene and ethylene vinyl acetate.

PTT Chemical, an affiliate of PTT Plc and the largest producer of ethylene and propylene monomer in Thailand, also produces high-density polyethylene and supports their downstream petrochemical plants with a variety of utilities and logistics facilities.

“We selected ExxonMobil’s autoclave technology because of its proven performance in plants around the world, its cleanliness, safety and excellent conversions,” said Suphon Tubtimcharoon, PTT Chemical’s senior marketing and commercial executive vice president.

Neil Chapman, ExxonMobil’s vice president, global polyethylene business, said PTT Chemical was a growing producer in a rapidly expanding market. 

Multimedia: AIS picks Mobixell to power content

Mobixell Networks announced yesterday that Advanced Info System (AIS), the country’s biggest mobile-phone operator, had chosen Mobixell’s Rich Media Service Centre to power its multimedia content services and drive multimedia revenues.

AIS’s content delivery platform provides services that include Java applications, polyphonic ringtones, pictures, audio, video clips, and more. The platform serves multi-bearer content downloading via MMS, WAP and WAP Push.

Mobixell Networks, a US provider of mobile multimedia value-added service solutions, enables operators to shorten time to market for multimedia services, while reducing operating costs.