"Border Trade"

Cross-border trade rose more than 29 per cent in May, increasing for the fifth consecutive month, the Commerce Ministry reported on Tuesday.

Immigration Police chief Pol Lt-General Sompong Chingduang, together with high-level police officers, travelled to inspect the northern border checkpoint to plan preventive measures against the spread of Covid-19 from Myanmar, which is currently beset with pandemic and political problems.

Thai-Myanmar border trade through Ranong province in January 2021 grew by 3.94 per cent in value compared to the previous month, with Thai exports increasing by 6.12 per cent, Wanida Arunothai, chief of Ranong Provincial Commercial Office under the Ministry of Commerce, revealed.

The main border checkpoint between Chiang Rai and Myanmar reopened this afternoon after closing for four hours following a coup d'état in the neighbouring country.

Tension has been brewing at the Thailand-Myanmar border since the military took over Myanmar’s elected government on Monday morning and put senior leaders, including Aung San Suu Kyi, under arrest.

After visiting the Customs Department on Wednesday, Finance Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith said he has instructed officials to use technology to reduce the time spent on inspection so goods can be released quickly as well as to ensure transparency.

Goods transport at the major Mae Sai border crossing in Chiang Rai has plummeted from about 1,000 trucks per day to just six, after Myanmar imposed strict disease controls to combat a surge in Covid-19 cases.

The National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC) unveiled the progress in the development of special economic development zones in 10 border areas across the country.

Border trade in the first 11 months of 2019 fell 2.94 per cent year on year to Bt1.23 trillion, the Department of Foreign Trade under the Commerce Ministry revealed.

Trade along the borders of Thailand in the first half of this year was worth Bt686 billion, up 1.16 per cent from the same period last year, director general of the Commerce Ministry’s Foreign Trade Department, Adul Chotinisakorn, said on Tuesday. 

THE total value of Thailand’s cross-border trade, including transit trade, edged up 0.92 per cent year on year to Bt219.48 billion in the first two months of this year with the full year target set at Bt1.6 trillion, a 15-per cent growth from 2018 , according to the Department of Foreign Trade.

The Department of Foreign Trade (DFT) will host a Thai-Cambodia economic partnership event in which the governments of both countries and the private sector have been invited to trade and investment promotion and solutions.