Commerce Ministry pushes for 15% export gorwth in 2012

The Commerce Ministry aims to push Thai export growth to 15 per cent this year while in the first quarter exports are projected to expand by between one and five per cent.

Nuntawan Sakuntanaga, director-general of the Department of Export Promotion (DEP), said that export growth in the first quarter is likely to stay low following last year's flood crisis, which heavily impacted industrial estates and the manufacturing sector.

However, she was confident that Thai exports in the first quarter will not be negative but will grow by one to five per cent because many factories were able to resume production faster than earlier expected.

Although many parties are still concerned that the the eurozone debt crisis will affect Thai exports, Nuntawan said she believed that there is still a high demand for Thai fashion products and food in the European market.

Thailand needs to maintain European and US markets despite slow growth, while at the same time targeting emerging markets in Asia, Latin America, Russia and Africa, she said.

In addition, the Department of Export Promotion will gear up to promote small- and medium-enterprises (SMEs) as there is still high demand for foods, beverages and handicrafts and these SME businesses still have room to grow, in particular in ASEAN markets. Exports of products in these three categories to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations market were valued at more than Bt240 billion in 2011.

The DEP will instruct the SMEs to expand their markets to serve the integration of the ASEAN Community in 2015.

She conceded that some Thai exporters did not understand tariff preferences under the ASEAN framework.

In fact, she said, they needed to register their businesses with the commerce ministry in order to exercise their rights under the agreement.