Thailand gains trade surplus in border trade in 2018

BANGKOK, January 25 (TNA) - The Ministry of Commerce has reported on a trade surplus of over 163 billion baht in favor of Thailand from the cross-border and transit trade with neighboring countries in 2018. Adul Chotinisakorn, Director-General of the ministry's Department of Foreign Trade, told journalists on Friday that Thailand gained a trade surplus of about 163.95 billion baht from the cross-border and transit trade last year, as the Kingdom's total export to neighboring countries across the border stood at about 778.29 billion baht, surpassing the total import of 614.34 billion baht. Adul stated that most of the total cross-border and transit trade of about 1.39 trillion baht in 2018, or about 1.12 trillion baht, was Thailand's cross-border trade with four neighboring countries, including Malaysia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Cambodia, while the rest was the Kingdom's transit trade with three neighboring countries, namely China's southern region, Singapore and Vietnam. According to the senior official, Malaysia maintained Thailand's top trading partner in last year's cross-border trade at about 571.93 billion baht, followed by Lao PDR at about 213.62 billion baht, Myanmar at about 193.33 billion baht and Cambodia at about 145.80 billion baht. For the Thai Kingdom's transit trade last year, China's southern region was on top of the list at about 103.45 billion baht, followed by Singapore at about 86.20 billion baht and Vietnam at about 78.31 billion baht. (TNA)