Exports expanded for a 14th straight month in April, led by stronger shipments of cars and parts, computers and accessories, plastic pellets, finished oil, rice, tapioca products, frozen and processed chicken, and fresh, canned and processed fruits and vegetables.
The Commerce Ministry reported yesterday that customs-cleared outbound shipments rose by 12.3% year-on-year in April to US$18.94 billion (607 billion baht) after a 7.1% jump in March.
Exports in baht terms edged up by 0.8% in April to 586.3 billion baht.
"Exports of agricultural and agro-industrial products recovered to strong growth in April, notably for fresh, canned and processed fruit and vegetables, rice, tapioca products, and fresh and processed poultry," said Pimchanok Vonkorpon, director-general of the Trade Policy and Strategy Office under the Commerce Ministry. "Even shipments of rubber showed positive signs."
Ms Pimchanok said exports of agricultural and agro-industrial products grew by 9.8% year-on-year in April to $3.39 billion after shrinking 3.3% in March.
The growth was attributed to a surge in shipments of fresh and frozen fruit and vegetables (up 50.7%), tapioca products (up 25.8%), rice (up 19.1%) and frozen and processed chicken (up 12.4%).
Ms Pimchanok said shipments of durian, in particular, rose 135% in April to 120,000 tonnes worth $220 million, up 207% on the same period last year, with exports to China skyrocketing 774% to 56,000 tonnes, representing half of all durian exports, thanks to e-commerce.
Overall industrial product shipments also posted an expansion for 14 months in a row, up 12.2% in April to $14.78 billion, thanks to strong exports of finished oil (up 39%), plastic pellets (up 29%), computers and components (up 23.9%) and automobiles and parts (up 17.8%).
Imports in April surged 20.4% from a year earlier to $20.22 billion (after rising 9.5% in March), resulting in a trade deficit of $1.28 billion in April (against a surplus of $1.27 billion in March).
For the first four months of 2018, Thailand's exports rose by 11.5%, the highest rate in seven years, to $81.77 billion.
Imports rose at the same time by 17.2% to $81.10 billion, yielding a trade surplus of $673 million for the period.
"The Commerce Ministry is still maintaining the export growth forecast of 8%," Ms Pimchanok said. "We expect that the world economy will strongly recover, while higher oil prices will help lift commodity prices."
But Ms Pimchanok said the government still needs to monitor trade risks closely, even though the trade row between the US and China has calmed down.
Sompop Manarungsan, president of the Panyapiwat Institute of Management, said Thailand's exports are expected to fare well this year and are likely to exceed 8% growth after the trade war between the US and China ends.
Siam Commercial Bank's Economic Intelligence Center (EIC) forecasts annual exports to expand by 7.5% year-on-year on the back of a continuous global economic recovery that will induce higher demand of merchandise export products.
Exports related to oil are expected to reap benefits from higher crude oil prices. The EIC estimates the average price of Brent crude at $70 a barrel this year, an increase of 28% year-on-year.
The impact on Thailand stemming from the US's trade protectionist measure remains limited, the EIC said, and Thailand could compensate by exporting to countries that have good economic growth rates.
"However, we think the US's trade protectionist measures remain an important risk worth monitoring going forward," the think tank said.
