Key exports could decrease by as much as 300 billion baht in the remaining months of the year if the spread of Covid-19 infections continues at factories, the country’s exporters' group said on Tuesday.
"The manufacturing sector has been affected a lot more by this outbreak... and exports are in the supply chain," Chaichan Chareonsuk, chairman of the Thai National Shippers' Council, told a press briefing.
Exports, a rare key bright spot in the economy, might grow by just 7% this year if the outbreak cannot be contained, he added, below the group's growth target of 10%.
In the first half of 2021, exports rose 15.5% from a year earlier.
However, workers in over 1,500 factories have been infected with Cobif-19, according to Mr Chaichan.
Four key labour-intensive exporting industries -- food, electronic parts, auto parts and textiles -- have been particularly hit, Mr Chaichan said, with an expected loss of 200-300 billion baht in the remaining months of the year.
With that loss, overall exports will grow just 7% this year, or $19.2 billion a month, he said, while there is demand for Thai goods worth $22.2 billion-$23.0 billion a month. "Although there are already orders, we can't get them," he said.
"Last month, exporters were concerned about Covid. But right now, they are stressed.”.