The government has embarked on an initiative under which big, experienced local companies will function as mentors to small Thai enterprises to help them tap into more exports.
The "elder brothers/sisters lead the younger ones by the hand" scheme calls for leading firms with experience in export to get more actively involved in assisting small-scale operators to expand their export market. They will provide knowledge, develop proactive marketing strategies, and take study trips to potential markets such as China, Asean and Europe.
For instance, agribusiness giant Charoen Pokphand Group will help support those interested in China, while consumer product maker Saha Group will help in Indochina and Europe for fashion products. Central Group will pitch in Asean and Central Europe for retail and hotel business.
Commerce Minister Chatchai Sarikulya said the scheme is slated to start in March and aims to cover 500 Thai small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) this year.
The Office of Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion's (Osmep) annual report lists the total number of enterprises in Thailand as of 2013 at 2.84 million, of which 2.76 million were SMEs, or 97.16%. They expanded 1.22% year-on-year.
The number of small enterprises totalled 2.75 million, 96.70% of the country's total and 99.52% of the country's SMEs.
The GDP of SMEs in 2013 was 4.46 trillion baht, or 37.4% of the country's total, a gain of 3.8%, down from a 6.6% rise the previous year.
Much of the GDP contribution of SMEs in 2013 came from the service, manufacturing, and trade and maintenance sectors. The service sector was the most important economic activity, accounting for 34.8% of the contribution. Second was manufacturing at 29.6%, followed by trade and manufacturing 27.7%.
In 2013, SMEs exports totalled 1.76 trillion baht, accounting for 25.5% of the total export value, a substantial decrease of 14.70% from 2012.
Osmep reports exports by Thai SMEs amounted to 1.91 trillion baht in 2014, with 1.29 trillion from small enterprises and 624.70 billion from medium-sized ones.
Import values for SMEs totalled 2.21 trillion baht, with small enterprises making up 1.5 trillion baht and medium-sized enterprises 708.47 billion.