Thai shippers foresee flat export growth for first half

TNSC chairman Nopporn Thepsithar said many negative factors, mainly exchange rates, would continue to cause problems for exporters for the first six months of the year, with a slight improvement in the second half.

A major factor holding back export growth is the fact that the Thai industrial sector has relied mainly on multinational manufacturers. Many foreign investors have started to do more business in other countries, mainly in Asean, for better competitiveness while still enjoying tariff breaks under the European Union’s Generalised System of Preferences. This has had a negative impact on the Thai export sector.

Given limit competitiveness and a relatively low supply of labour in Thailand, many foreign firms have begun manufacturing and transferring technology to other countries such as Vietnam and Malaysia, Nopporn said.

Slowing economic growth in many countries including China and many in the Middle East and Africa, hit by lower oil prices, has also affected Thai exports.

Exports from Thailand that have been hit hard by the slow pace of the global economy and currency fluctuations include rubber products, refined oil, chemical products, and commodities.

 

Volume may shrink 

Vallop Vitanakorn, vice chairman of the TNSC, said exports in the first half could shrink by 2 per cent, or post flat growth at best, and then resume small positive growth in the second half.

He is encouraged by the government’s plan to put export promotion on the national agenda so that all responsible agencies would have a clear mandate to make concrete plans.

Vallop also called for the government to take urgent steps against freight companies’ plans to make major increases in terminal handling charges, as this would seriously affect export competitiveness.