Commerce Ministry, private sector work towards 5% export growth

After the first meeting of a task force on driving export and investment growth under the Public-Private Steering Committee, Commerce Minister Apiradi Tantraporn said the government would help find ways to expand export value by 5 per cent to US$225 billion (Bt8.16 trillion) this year.

The meeting also agreed to set up two subcommittees to draw up export-promotion plans and lead Thai investment overseas, focusing on Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam (CLMV) as priority countries for this year.

She acknowledged that the global economy was still fragile. The slowing growth of China has also affected the Thai economy, as that country is one of our major markets. However, the government and the private sector have agreed that they will offset a decline in exports to China by focusing more on emerging markets and CLMV, where exports were still growing well last year.

 

Asean

Under the ministry’s working target, it is projected that exports to Asean will grow 6 per cent, while those to CLMV alone will expand by 13.6 per cent. Shipments to other markets will grow more slowly; those to China will expand by 3.5 per cent, to the European Union by 2.8 per cent, and to North America 3.1 per cent. Meanwhile exports to Japan and Russia will face continued contraction this year, by 1.5 and 15 per cent respectively.

Exports to new markets will continue to increase, including to Latin America by 17.2 per cent, to Australia by 10 per cent, and to India by 9 per cent.

Exports of automobiles and parts will grow by 8 per cent this year, those of electronics by 4 per cent, electrical appliances 2 per cent, construction materials 2 per cent, and machinery and parts 2 per cent. However, export of rubber products will shrink by 2 per cent.

Exports of frozen and processed food are expected to drop by 5 per cent, while shrimp exports grow by 4 per cent and chicken exports by 7 per cent. Shipments of jewellery and ornaments will grow by 8 per cent, and those of leather and footwear will increase 2 per cent, while garments and textiles drop 2 per cent, as some Thai garment manufacturers have moved their factories to neighbouring countries.

Sanan Angubolkul, vice chairman of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, said 5-per-cent export growth was a challenging target, but shipments should grow by at least 2 per cent this year.

He said the Public-Private Steering Committee should help draw up a concrete action plan within three months so that exports and investment could meet this year’s targets.

Vallop Vitanakorn, vice chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries, said many negative factors would continue to hit Thai and other countries’ exports this year. However, he believes Thailand still has potential to drive export growth, as Thai products’ share in many markets was still increasing.

He said export value should be able to grow by at least 2 per cent this year.