Exports rose 6.2% year-on-year in December, pushing growth for the year into positive territory at 0.45%, with total shipments worth US$215.327bn - the first rebound in four years.
According to Commerce Ministry, Thailand shipped US$18.165 billion worth of goods in December, the second straight month of annual gains after 10.2% surprise growth in November.
Imports in December totalled $17.227 billion, an increase of 10.3% from the same month in 2015. This resulted in a trade surplus of $938 million for the month.
With the positive push from December, the country hauled its negative export performance back into the black zone with growth of 0.45% over 2015, with a total value of $215.327 billion.
Overall imports in 2016 were worth $194.668 billion, a drop of 3.9% from 2015, giving the kingdom a record trade surplus for the year of $20.659 billion.
Pimchanok Vonkhorporn, director of trade policy and strategy, said exports by the farm and agricultural industry sector expanded by 5.5% y-o-y in December, while the industrial sector rose by 5.4%.
Exports to China saw the biggest rise at 27.3% in December, followed by 17.2% to Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam; and 9.2% to the original Asean countries of Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines.
Best performing products in December were gold, rubber and its products, plastic pellets, electrical circuitry, refined oil and sugar.
Ms Pimchanok said Thai exporters were capable of adapting to the global economy and Thai products were still in demand.
Thailand’s 0.45% growth ranked the eighth best performer in the world in 2016 (compared with the 30 countries with highest market shares in the world), while the average global performance was a 3.1% contraction.
The ministry projected exports in 2017 will improve with opportunities of continuous expansion to overall growth of 2.5-3.5%. This was assuming the baht remained in the range of 35.5-37.5 baht to the US dollar and oil prices at $50-60 per barrel.