Thailand’s exports grow 8% in October, as govt plans ‘quick win’ measures
Thailand exported US$23.58 billion (828.22 billion baht) worth of goods in October, marking an 8% increase compared to the same month last year, a Commerce Ministry official said.
Kirati Ratchano, the ministry’s permanent secretary, said on Monday that after excluding the value of exported oil, gold and armaments, the growth stood at 5.4%.
Kirati noted that Thailand’s October exports outpaced those of several other ASEAN nations.
He attributed the growth to recovering global markets, rising demands and falling inflation rates in many countries.
The permanent secretary added that the Chinese stimulus measures were also starting to bear fruit, with rising consumption and investments from China.
He further noted that the Israel-Hamas war has not escalated enough to affect the global economy, and hence has no impact on Thai exports.
However, Thailand’s exports still showed a contraction of 2.7% even after adding October exports to those of the previous nine months. But the contraction falls to 0.6% when the values of oil, gold and military supplies are removed.
Thailand suffered a trade deficit of $832.3 million in October as imports came in at $24.411 billion.
Meanwhile, the Commerce Ministry announced that the export of agricultural and agro-industrial products grew by 9.3% year-on-year, while exports of industrial products expanded by 5.4%.
The ministry also said that exports to key markets expanded by 5.1% in October. Exports to the US, China, and ASEAN nations grew by 13.8%, 3.4%, and 16.5%, respectively, but exports to Japan, the European Union, and CLMV (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam) contracted by 1.1%, 1.4%, and 9.7%, respectively.
The Commerce Ministry expects export growth to continue in the first quarter of 2024 after Commerce Minister Phumtham Wechayachai instructed his ministry to expedite the government's “quick win” measures to organise 73 trade promotions overseas.
