Thai lifestyle product shipments are expected to grow healthily by 13.4% this year to 363 billion baht, driven by the economic recovery of trading partners and exporters' adjustment to sell their products through online and online business matching.
Phusit Ratanakul Sereroengrit, director-general of the International Trade Promotion Department, said with economies in major export markets having gradually recovered, Thai lifestyle and fashion product exports increased by 15% to 24 billion baht in the first eight months of this year.
Shipments to the US market rose 25.3% in the period, with those to Indonesia up 37.5%, Australia up 27.6%, Vietnam up 11.7% and Japan up 7.5%.
"Thailand's lifestyle and fashion product exports are expected to maintain the growth momentum until the end of this year," he said. "We expect shipments of this segment to grow by 13.4% to 363 billion baht from 2020 when exports shrank by 14.5%."
People browse at Marché by STYLE Bangkok which runs from October 6 to 10, 2021 at CentralWorld. Somchai Poomlard
He attributed the robust growth to the economic recovery of trading partners and people's confidence to resume their economic activities.
Entrepreneurs also adjusted their marketing channels to overcome the Covid-19 crisis, tapping more into online and online business matching.
According to Mr Phusit, Thai lifestyle and fashion products still need to compete on quality and design rather than pricing strategy.
In a related development, Boonyarit Kalayanamit, commerce permanent-secretary, said at the opening of "The Marché by STYLE Bangkok" ceremony that the lifestyle and fashion product industry is one of the key driving forces of economic growth. More than 90% of business operators in the industry are SMEs, employing over 1 million workers nationwide.