July exports plunge 4.56% on euro impact

The decline in exports has exceeded the ministry’s expectations, as it clung to the hope that stronger export growth in the second half would boost shipments by 15 per cent for the full year.
Deputy Commerce Minister Poom Sarapol said the euro crunch had resulted in more serious impacts on global trade, including Thailand’s, than predicted. Shipments of many goods have been hit hard by the euro zone’s economic |meltdown and will affect them further for the rest of year.
Poom acknowledged that Thai exports would be worth $19 billion to $20 billion per month for the remainder of the year, which will boil down to single-digit growth.
The Commerce Ministry has not yet lowered its export-growth target officially, still hoping that its export promotions can make the 15-per-cent goal a reality.
The ministry will meet with exporters from seven industries affected by the euro-zone crisis on  Monday. It also will draw up measures to drive export growth. Thai trade representatives overseas will also gather in Bangkok on September 13 to brainstorm ideas to boost exports.
“The setting of an export-growth target of 15 per cent was not a ‘white lie’.
“But the ministry will review the figure after the meeting to ensure that a revision would not affect enterprises’ confidence,” Poom said.
However, the Bank of Thailand said yesterday that the Kingdom would be able to drive export growth to only 4-5 per cent this year, with average shipments in the remaining months worth $21 billion to $22 billion.
In July alone, Thailand faced a trade deficit of $1.74 billion.
Imports grew by 13.73 per cent year on year to $21.29 billion. Shipments to the EU 15 countries (the original states forming the European Union) dropped critically by 21.4 per cent, while export to the EU 12 (those comprising the union’s expansion) declined by 24.4 per cent. Exports to Asean also dropped last month by 2.6 per cent.
In July, shipments by the agricultural sector shrank by 6.6 per cent and those by the industrial sector were down 4.3 per cent. Exports of electronic goods fell 15.4 per cent, electrical appliances by 3.4 per cent, garments by 14.3 per cent, jewellery by 37.3 per cent, rubber by 33.8 per cent, and rice by 28.5 per cent.
In the first seven months of this year, Thailand faced a huge trade deficit of $12.08 billion. Exports in that period dropped slightly to $131.8 billion, while imports grew 10.5 per cent to $143.89 billion.
To boost exports in the remaining months, Poom said the government was still proceeding with its plan to reduce tariffs and draw up plans to promote exports to various markets.
Pongpun Gearaviriyapun, deputy director-general of the Foreign Trade Department, said the government would focus more on cross-border trade to lessen the impact from the EU crisis.
It will negotiate to open more permanent border checkpoints with neighbouring countries, especially with Myanmar, to achieve cross-border trade of Bt1 trillion this year.