Discouraged by the drop in exports in both October and November, an exporter group acknowledged Tuesday that the country's overall exports in 2018 were unlikely to achieve 8% growth as earlier forecast.
Ghanyapad Tantipipatpong, chairwoman of the Thai National Shippers' Council (TNSC), said shipments were likely to end the year at 7-7.3% growth in 2018. She forecast a mere 5% gain this year.
"Thai exports face a lot of risk factors, including the unabated trade war between the US and China, a strong baht, higher oil prices, a global economic slowdown, and the US government shutdown," Ms Ghanyapad said. "The government should speed up trade missions and promotion activities in potential export markets such as Africa and the Middle East, especially in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, where food is a potential export good."
She suggested that the government accelerate tightening the trade relationship to expand export markets and investment with as many trading partners as possible and promote the use of free-trade agreements (FTAs) to boost exports.
Thailand has 13 FTAs in place, including the Asean-Hong Kong FTA and investment agreement scheduled to take effect this month.
Trade negotiators vow this year to accelerate FTA negotiations with Turkey, Sri Lanka and Pakistan and aim to conclude the talks within 2020.
Thailand is also preparing to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), a new trade bloc of 11 Pacific Rim nations excluding the US, after the general election.
The council urged the government to beef up export activities to China at the provincial level, saying each province of China offers different trade opportunities, particularly for products with Thai identity.
Chaichan Chareonsuk, secretary-general of the TNSC, said the council considers Thai textiles, garments, food and plastic pellets promising as export goods this year.
On Dec 21, the Commerce Ministry reported that customs-cleared exports fell by 0.95% year-on-year in November, fetching $21.2 billion.
This was the second drop this year after exports in September shrank 5.2% year-on-year.
November exports in baht terms also fell by 2.4% from the same month last year to 688 billion baht.
A sharp decline in exports was seen for shipments to the Middle East, Australia, China and South Asia, down 17.4%, 11.8%, 8.9% and 7.6%, respectively.
Imports in November rose 14.7% to $22.41 billion, resulting in a trade deficit of $1.17 billion.
Export value for the first 11 months rose 7.3% year-on-year to $233 billion, while imports increased by 14.8% to $231 billion, yielding a trade surplus of $1.38 billion.