Thai exports top forecasts in December
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Thai exports top forecasts in December

Growth of 8.7% brings full-year expansion to 5.4%, with trade deficit of $6.3 billion

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A container ship is berthed at Laem Chabang port in Chon Buri. (File Photo)
A container ship is berthed at Laem Chabang port in Chon Buri. (File Photo)

The value of Thailand’s customs-cleared exports rose 8.7% in December from a year earlier, the Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday, slightly higher than analysts’ forecasts.

The reading compared with a forecast 8.15% increase year-on-year for December in a Reuters poll, and followed November’s 8.2% rise. The ministry is maintaining its export growth target of 2% to 3% for 2025.

The US dollar value of exports, a key driver of Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy, increased 5.4% in 2024 to a record $301 billion, the ministry said in a statement.

Imports rose 14.9% in December from a year earlier, above a forecast rise of 13.65%. That led to a trade deficit of $10.6 million, compared with a forecast surplus of $290 million.

For all of 2024, imports rose 6.3% from 2023, with a trade deficit at $6.3 billion.

Rice export volumes dropped 7.1% in December from a year earlier, but rose 13.4% to 9.95 million tonnes in the whole of 2024.

Thailand, the world’s biggest rice exporter after India, expects rice shipments to drop to about 7.5 million tonnes in 2025 due to more competition from India and less demand from Indonesia, according to the Thai Rice Exporters Association.

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