Posted on 23 Sep 2009
Government sees export revival in 2010 (Thailand)
The government has set an export growth target next year of between 10% and 15%, aiming to increase shipments both to established key markets and new markets.
"The government's trade promotion next year will focus specially on small and medium-sized enterprises, which currently bring the country exports worth up to 1.69 trillion baht a year, or about 28.9% of total exports," said Commerce Minister Porntiva Nakasai.
She made the comment yesterday after outlining the ministry's trade promotion policy for next year to commercial ministers of the 64 offices of commercial affairs worldwide.
Commercial ministers are also being urged to help promote Thailand's creative economy and to educate Thai exporters in how the creative economy can add value to their export products.
Thailand's exports would fall as much as 10% year-on-year in the third quarter but shipments would rise about 3-5% in the final quarter, said Mrs Porntiva.
The government still projects exports to shrink about 15-19% this year, but the minister said the government was committed to limiting the slump to 10-13% this year.
For the first eight months of the year, Thailand's exports totalled US$94.39 billion, down 23.1%, resulting in a $13.77-billion trade surplus.
Kessiri Siripakorn, minister for the office of commercial affairs for Washington, said Thailand's exports to the US market were likely to return to growth in 2010, climbing 3.9% to about $16.8 billion, after dropping 20.3% this year to $16.1 billion. The rebound is projected mainly on the United States' recovering economy and consumption.
With a boost from its government's stimulus measures, the US economy is likely to be flat in the third quarter and to grow in the following quarter, after sliding by 6.4% in the first quarter and 1% in the second quarter, she said.
But high US unemployment is likely to make its consumers selective and cautious, she said. Thai exporters should fine-tune products to suit changing consumption by offering high quality and value for money, she added.
In other key markets, the Thai government expects exports to the European Union to grow at least 5% to $18.13 billion next year, while shipments to Japan climb by 10% to $17.68 billion, to Asean by 4.58% to $29.28 billion, and to China by 1-5% to 16.35-17 billion.
This year, shipments to the EU are forecast to drop by 18.8% to $17.27 billion, to Japan by 20% to $16.07 billion, to Asean by 30.1% to $27.97 billion and to China by about 2% to $16 billion.
