FTAs serving Thai interests well, five years of statistics reveal
Thailand’s exports to countries with whom it has free trade agreements (FTAs) has grown by 3.31 per cent on average compared with only 0.75 per cent growth to countries without FTAs from 2014 to 2018, according to Auramon Supthaweethum, director-general of the Department of Trade Negotiations.
Thailand has signed FTAs with China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia, New Zealand, Peru and Chile besides Asean members.
Total trading value with 18 FTA partners in the first 10 months of 2019 amounted to US$253.89 billion or 62.4 per cent of Thailand’s global trading value. Exports amounted to $128.27 billion and imports were worth $125.62 billion.
Asean tops the trading list with $90.737 billion, followed by China, $65.15 billion; Japan, $48.73 billion; Australia, $12.22 billion and South Korea, $11.29 billion.
Between January and September 2019, Thailand exported $50.31 billion to FTA partners (78.25 per cent) and imported $27.59 billion (52.25 per cent) from them. The top products are automobiles, spare parts, plastics, appliances and electronic devices.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Commerce Jurin Laksanawisit is pushing for FTAs with Turkey, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in 2020 to expand Thailand’s markets, decrease trading obstacles and increase competitiveness.
