Thailand's November Export Improves Over October

By Linda Khoo Hui Li BANGKOK, Dec 23 (Bernama) -- Thailand’s exports in November dropped 3.65 per cent year-on-year (yoy) to US$18.93 billion (US$1 = RM4.06), an improvement from the 6.7 per cent in October. The Commerce Ministry’s trade policy and strategy office (TPSO) said imports in November fell 0.99 per cent to US$18.88 billion, resulting in trade surplus of US$52.59 billion. For the first 11 months of this year, exports contracted 6.92 per cent to US$ 211.38 billion while imports fell 13.74 per cent to US$187.87 billion, resulting in trade surplus of US$ 23.51 billion. “In November, overview of Thai international trade signals a steady recovery. Despite the persistent pandemic, the global economy has continued its recovery. “Exports to major markets continued to recover gradually despite the increase in COVID-19 cases in many countries. “The export growth in some markets picked up this month. This reflects a gradual demand recovery of trading partners after injecting economic stimulus packages. This also aligns with the global economic momentum which began to show further signs of recovery,” it said. For the first 11 months of this year, TPSO said exports of agricultural and agro-industrial products dropped 4 per cent while exports of industrial products declined 6.6 per cent. Exports to main markets such as the United States and Japan expanded 15.4 per cent and 5.4 per cent respectively while exports to the European Union (EU) contracted by 8.5 per cent. Exports to high potential markets such as China contracted by 8.9 per cent, five ASEAN countries (Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines) fell 15 per cent while CLMV (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam) dropped 13 per cent. Meanwhile, the TPSO also revised its annual projection of Thai exports to contract by 6.6 per cent. -- BERNAMA