A group of Thai shippers is calling on the government to set up a war room to handle the impact of the US-China trade row and boost the country’s exports.
According to Ghanyapad Tantipipatpong, chairwoman of the Thai National Shippers’ Council, the Commerce Ministry needs to bring together academics, economic specialists and trade experts within the ministry to propose best practices on how to expand into new markets and boost exports.
“Thai exports are now full of myriad risk factors, be it the simmering trade row between the US and China, political problems in the European Union, city-wide strikes in Hong Kong or the strong baht,” she said. “The central bank is, therefore, in dire need of help to harness the baht’s appreciation.”
Ms Ghanyapad said that given the current economic and export conditions, a rise in the daily minimum wage would be untimely.
“The council still sees Thai exports having a high chance to contract this year,” she said. “A contraction of 1% or more is possible if these risk factors are not addressed, especially for the baht.”
According to the latest report of the Commerce Ministry, Thailand’s exports fell for the fourth straight month in June due to weak demand because of the global economic slowdown, ongoing trade tensions between the US and China, and lower oil prices.
Customs-cleared outbound shipments fell by 2.2% year-on-year in June to US$21.4 billion after contracting by 5.8% in May, 2.6% in April and 4.9% in March.
Imports in June fell by 9.4% to $18.2 billion, leading the country to register a trade surplus of $3.21 billion.
For the first six months, overall shipments were down 2.9% from the same period last year to $113 billion. The trade surplus for the period amounted to $3.94 billion.