Thai-Cambodia Border Trade Plummets Nearly 100% Following Checkpoint Closures

 

Thailand's Department of Foreign Trade has revealed the devastating impact on bilateral commerce following the closure of Thai-Cambodia border checkpoints, with trade values plummeting by 97.5% in July.

 

Monthly figures released by the Commerce Ministry show that the closure of Thai-Cambodia border crossings has dragged bilateral trade into negative territory, with trade values falling to just 376 million baht in July. 

 

Meanwhile, overall border and transit trade for the month reached 166.025 billion baht, representing a 5% increase, though annual projections for border trade growth have been revised down from 3% to 2%.

 

Director-General Arada Fuangtong explained the circumstances behind the dramatic decline: "The situation at the Thai-Cambodia border, which saw measures to suspend the passage of all types of vehicles from late June 2025, culminated in clashes between both sides from 24-28 July 2025. This necessitated the closure of all 18 border crossing points."

 

The impact was severe, with Thailand-Cambodia trade falling nearly 100%. Trade values dropped to 376 million baht, down 97.5%, whilst exports fell to 370 million baht, a decrease of 97%, and imports plunged to just 6 million baht, down 99.8%. This contributed to an overall 20% contraction in border trade for July.

 

Despite the Cambodia crisis, overall border and transit trade in July reached 166.025 billion baht, up 5%, comprising exports of 92.216 billion baht (up 5.9%) and imports of 73.810 billion baht (up 3.9%), yielding a trade surplus of 18.406 billion baht. 

 

 

For the seven months from January to July 2025, border and transit trade totalled 1.188 trillion baht, an increase of 11%, with exports reaching 688.477 billion baht (up 10.7%) and imports 499.793 billion baht (up 11.3%), producing a trade surplus of 188.683 billion baht.

 

Border trade with Thailand's four neighbouring countries in July totalled 66.220 billion baht, down 20%, with exports of 35.702 billion baht (down 29.5%) and imports of 30.518 billion baht (down 5%), resulting in a trade surplus of 5.184 billion baht. 

 

Malaysia remained the largest border trading partner with 26.261 billion baht (down 13.1%), followed by Laos at 22.451 billion baht (up 2.3%), Myanmar at 17.133 billion baht (up 8.7%), and Cambodia at just 376 million baht (down 97.5%).

 

Key border export commodities included diesel fuel (1.971 billion baht), other refined petroleum products (1.141 billion baht), and computers and other equipment (1.029 billion baht). 

 

For the seven months of 2025, border trade totalled 572.281 billion baht, down 0.8%, comprising exports of 343.950 billion baht (down 3.5%) and imports of 228.331 billion baht (up 3.7%).

 

Transit trade to third countries in July reached 99.805 billion baht, up 32.5%, with exports of 56.514 billion baht (up 55%) and imports of 43.291 billion baht (up 11.3%).

 

China dominated transit trade with 62.984 billion baht (up 44%), followed by Singapore and Vietnam with 12.788 billion baht (up 50.1%) and 6.342 billion baht (down 15.1%) respectively.

 

 

 

Major transit export products included fresh durian (22.949 billion baht), hard disk drives (6.074 billion baht), and computers and other equipment (3.582 billion baht). 

 

Seven-month transit trade totalled 615.988 billion baht, up 24.6%, with exports of 344.526 billion baht (up 29.8%) and imports of 271.462 billion baht (up 18.6%).

 

Arada noted that Thailand's continued border and transit trade growth in July, despite the setbacks, was driven by transit trade expansion of 32.5%, with transit exports rising 55%. 

 

This included substantial increases in transit exports to China (up 72.4%), Singapore (up 56.1%), Vietnam (up 23%), and other countries (up 19.2%).

 

Fruit exports continued to drive growth, particularly fresh durian at 22.949 billion baht (up 135.6%) and fresh mangosteen at 1.847 billion baht (up 57.9%).

 

Electronics also performed strongly, with hard disk drives reaching 6.074 billion baht (up 90.7%), computers and other equipment at 3.582 billion baht (up 211.1%), and computer components at 1.343 billion baht (up 679.5%).

 

"Thai-Cambodia border trade has seen trade values fall to 376 million baht, down nearly 100%, with exports dropping to 370 million baht, also down nearly 100%, due to clashes that forced the closure of all 18 border crossing points," Arada concluded. "Combined with the closure of the Mae Sot-Myawaddy crossing and the Second Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge, this has reduced Thailand's overall border and transit trade growth projections for 2025 from an expected 3% to just 2%, despite July's 5% monthly growth."