Cross-border trade, rice deals with China on new DFT chief’s agenda

Ronnarong Phoolpipat, who was recently appointed as DFT director-general, said on Monday that the agency’s most important agenda is to boost cross-border trade, as its value rose to 1.15 trillion baht in the first eight months of 2022, rising 3.18 per cent year on year.

“Cross-border export rose slightly at 0.11 per cent to 682.84 billion baht, while imports rose 7.98 per cent to 471.02 billion baht. In August, Thailand ran a trade surplus of 211.82 billion baht,” he said.

Ronnarong, who previously oversaw the Trade Policy and Strategy Office, said a weakened baht and recovering Myanmar and Laos economies were the main factors boosting cross-border trade this year. The rising demand for energy alone has expanded Thailand’s exports to Myanmar and Laos by 100 and 115 per cent year on year respectively.

He added that as the Covid-19 situation improves, consumption and manufacturing in the region is also bouncing back. In the first eight months of 2022, Malaysia has imported 389.42 per cent more automobiles and 131.43 per cent more tyres from Thailand compared to the previous year. Cambodia, meanwhile, has imported 618.91 per cent more circuit boards and 93.41 per cent more fabric and yarn.

“The DFT will also focus on G2G contracts to sell rice to China under the Thailand-China highspeed rail cooperative framework,” he said. “Under the contract, China will purchase 2 million tonnes of rice from Thailand. So far 720,000 tonnes have already been shipped. The DFT will work with the Chinese government to push for the rest of the shipment as soon as possible.”

Ronnarong added that his agency will also support exporters in their effort to find new buyers, especially in Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

“The department will also review AD [anti-dumping] laws to ensure trade is done in compliance with the latest international standards to protect our markets,” he added.