Thailand-China trade grows over 8% since early 2012

BANGKOK, July 16 (TNA) - The Kasikorn Research Center (KRC) reported on Monday that bilateral trade between Thailand and China had grown by 8.4 per cent during the first five months of this year, compared with the corresponding period of last year. KRC has, therefore, projected that Thai exports to China should grow by up to 15 per cent year-on-year throughout this year, indicating that such the expansion would then be greater than the expected 10 per-cent growth of overall Thai exports in 2012. According to the Bangkok-based research firm,Thailand's fast growing exports destined for China include computers, chemical products, sugar, refined oil and electrical appliances. The leading Thai private think tank warned, however, if China's economic stimulus measures were not proven to be effective in the rest of 2012, the Thai economy should be further affected by negative external factors, on top of impacts from the ongoing European debt crisis, which should even weaken the Thai exports. The KRC predicted that the massive Chinese economy should expand by 7.6 per cent in the second quarter of this year, its lowest quaterly growth in three years. At present, China is Thailand's largest export market and the second largest source of Thai imports, after Japan.(TNA)