Ministry of Commerce Revealing the state of trade between Thailand in January 2024, exports were valued at 22,649 million US dollars, an increase of 10% from the same period last year. This increased for the 6th consecutive month and was 8.8% higher than the market expected, while imports were valued at 25,407 million US dollars, an increase of 2.6% from the same period last year. As a result, in January Thailand has a trade deficit of 2,757 million US dollars.
“Thai exports in January That expanded to 10%, considered the highest rate of expansion in 18 months or 1 and a half years since June 2022,” said Mr. Keerati Ratchano, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Commerce.
If considering exports in each product group It will be found that there is expansion in every product group as follows.
Agricultural product group In January 2024, it grew 14% at a value of 2,070 million US dollars. Returning to expand from the previous month. Agricultural products that expanded well included rice, fresh fruits, chilled-frozen and dried, fresh vegetables, chilled-frozen and dried, rubber, fresh chicken, chilled, frozen and processed.
Agro-industrial product group In January 2024, it grew 3.8% at a value of 1,643 million US dollars. Expanded continuously for the 5th month with agro-industrial products that expanded well, including canned and processed vegetables, food seasonings, canned and processed fruits, beverages, pet food. and canned and processed seafood
Industrial product group In January 2024, it grew 10.3% at a value of 18,083 million US dollars. Expanded continuously for the 4th month, with industrial products that expanded well including iron and steel. and products, telephones Equipment and components, computers Equipment and components, gems and jewelry, machinery and components and rubber products
The top 10 important Thai export markets that expanded well in January 2024 include: No. 1 Hong Kong, expanding 72%; No. 2 CIS expanding 64.6%; No. 3 Australia expanding 27.2%; No. 4 ASEAN ( 5) Expanded 18.1%, No. 5 CLMV expanded 16.6%, No. 6 United States expanded 13.7%, No. 7 Canada expanded 11.8%, No. 8 Taiwan expanded 5.3%, No. 9 Switzerland expanded 5.1%, and No. 10 European Union. Expanded 4.5%
Mr. Keerati said that the important supporting factor that caused exports to expand well in January 2024 came from the world manufacturing sector which has an improving trend. In addition, important Thai agricultural products Received the benefit of prices rising according to the demand for products in the world market. including industrial products in the electronics group Continuously recovering according to the product cycle
However, there are still important challenging factors, including rising international shipping costs. After an attack on a merchant ship in the Red Sea Including the recovery of purchasing demand. There is still uncertainty. and the recovery is not at the same time in each region. The public and private sectors have jointly pushed for exports. Whether it is in the form of pushing to export products by state or province in large important export markets, it is also pushing for linking the production chain with important countries. To increase the value of trade between each other
Good export trend
Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Commerce said that the trend of Thai exports is beginning to show signs of improvement. As well as the export direction of other countries in the region, such as Vietnam, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, India and Malaysia, it is expected that the first quarter of this year Thai exports are likely to still expand positively, while for the entire year 2024, the Ministry of Commerce still sets an export growth target of 1-2%.
“First quarter exports I think it’s probably still positive. If there are no additional factors (fighting and events in the Red Sea do not escalate), export momentum will begin to return…looking at the trend. Exports of many countries have also begun to return. Saw good signs,” said the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Commerce.
Transportation problems – freight rates relaxed
Mr. Chaichan Charoensuk, Chairman of the National Shipping Council of Thailand (STN) or the Exporters Council, said that now the problems with transportation and logistics have begun to decrease. After the public and private sectors worked together to solve the problem As a result, ship freight rates, which had previously increased 4-5 times, decreased to 2-3 times from normal levels. This helps to reduce transportation costs to a certain extent. And if the unrest situation in the Red Sea is not more serious than this. It is believed that the problem of shipping goods by ship will return to normal in 1-2 months.
“Right now some shipping lines are still able to go, including Cosco, Evergreen and Maersk without interruption. Quite comfortable to a certain extent. So if the events in the Red Sea were not more serious than this, It is expected that normalcy will return in 1-2 months,” Mr. Chaichan said.
As for the reason that ship freight rates began to decrease Because in the beginning of January China must accelerate exports before the Chinese New Year in February. As a result, the demand for containers is very high. coupled with the problem of attacks on shipping ships in the Red Sea As a result, the freight rates during that period increased 5-6 times, but now the situation has begun to ease. Freight rates are starting to drop to the level they should be.
“During that time, China accelerated exports. Therefore, there is a need for a large number of containers. Demand is greater than supply, causing freight rates to surge 5-6 times from the normal price for sending goods to Europe. If it was a short $1,100 tank, it would go up to $4,000-5,000, but now it’s down to $2,500,” the NRCT president stated.
However, the NRCT will follow up on factors that will be important variables, namely China’s situation after the country opens. and the manufacturing sector after the Chinese New Year period has passed including the world oil price situation which has now begun to rise to the level of 83 USD/barrel
By InfoQuest News Agency (23 Feb. 2024)