Export fair aims to hit high govt sales target

The event taking place on September 17 at the Swissotel Le Concord aims to provide advice to exporters, particularly SMEs, to penetrate each target market, as shipments have been slowing down.
Nuntawan Sakuntanaga, director-general of the department, said last week that Thai commercial attaches will fly back to Thailand to join the event and give clear trading information to local enterprises.
Although the target of 15 per cent is quite challenging, there is still plenty of opportunities for firms to explore new markets abroad and help boost overall exports, he said.
The focus markets are Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. Europe is also a destination for Thai products, as many countries there still enjoy a strong economy.
The promising markets in Europe are Germany, France, England, the Netherlands, Denmark, Austria, Poland, Hungary the Czech Republic, plus Russia.
The department’s International Trade Training Institute will also host a fair tomorrow at the Commerce Ministry’s main office in Nonthaburi to promote exports to the United States.
The event, called “The Americas: The Big Change 2”, will have American trade experts on hand to educate Thai exporters on how to penetrate this giant market.
Kanchana Theparuck, the institute’s director, said exporters should not ignore the market there, despite the sputtering economy.
There was plenty of potential in “overlooked” regions in the Americas such as the Midwest and the Caribbean, she said.