The Commerce Ministry has vowed to support and promote exporters trading in bio-, circular and green (BCG) products which align with the global climate agenda and the world's megatrend that will focus more on BCG products.
According to Phusit Ratanakul Sereroengrit, director-general of the International Trade Promotion Department under the ministry, his department is scheduled to develop and upgrade 500 Thai exporters to become exporters of BCG products next year, up from 50 this year.
"The department aims to raise the BCG export volume to 4.4 trillion baht by 2024, making up 24% of the gross domestic product (GDP) from 3.4 trillion baht or 21% of the GDP in 2020," he said.
According to Mr Phusit, the BCG export products will focus on three main sectors comprising food as functional food, novel food, medical food and organic food; lifestyle products; and health and medical products.
In a related development, Mr Phusit admitted that Thai exports are expected to grow at a slower pace thanks to myriad risk factors including the Covid-19 pandemic, rising non-tariff barriers and normalised global demand.
However, the exact projection is unavailable, as the International Trade Promotion Department needs to first call a joint meeting with Thai commercial ambassadors in foreign countries and the private sector to evaluate next year's export prospects.
Earlier this month, the Thai National Shippers' Council projected Thai export growth to slow to 5% in 2022, down from the 12% forecast for this year.
Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanawisit is scheduled to announce the ministry's forecast in January.
"The International Monetary Fund in its World Economic Outlook has trimmed its 2021 global growth forecast to 5.9% from the 6% forecast it made in July and left the 2022 global growth forecast unchanged at 4.9%, citing persistent supply chain disruptions and inflation pressures constraining the global economy's recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic," said Mr Phusit.
Meanwhile, developed countries are also expected to apply more non-tariff measures as conditions for international trade, especially over environmental issues. Moreover, he said existing risk factors including the relatively high freight rate, a shortage of shipping space, containers and chips, as well as volatile oil prices are expected to continue weighing down next year's export performance.
For the first nine months of this year, according to the Commerce Ministry's figures, Thai exports expanded by 15.5% year-on-year to $199.9 billion, while imports rose by 30.9% to $197.9 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of $2.01 billion.