October exports down 4.6% as oil price, demand dip
Thailand’s overall export sector in October shrank by 4.57 per cent, leaving the total trade value at US$20.8 billion.
Pimchanok Vonkorpon, director-general of the Commerce Ministry’s Trade Policy and Strategy Office, said on Thursday (November 21) that a 25-per-cent-plus decrease in the price of oil and lower demand for commodities including rice and rubber were chiefly to blame.
“The effects of international trade wars are improving, as can be seen in a rise in our electronics exports,” she said. “But there are other harmful contributing factors, such as the baht’s appreciation and Brexit worries, that can affect Thai exports in the long term, which my office will continue to monitor closely.”
Total exports for the first 10 months of 2019 were valued at $207 billion, a 2.4-per-cent decrease from the same period last year.
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