Thai exports hit historic record in Jan 2013

BANGKOK, February 27 (TNA) - The Ministry of Commerce has reported that Thailand's exports reached 18.27 billion baht in January 2013, a historic-record surge of 16.09 per cent year-on-year. Permanent Secretary for Commerce Vatchari Vimooktayon told journalists on Wednesday that the historic-high of Thai exports last month show that the situation of the country's external trade has been returning to normal, boosted particularly by overseas purchase orders for the recent New Year and the Chinese New Year festivals. Vatchari acknowledged that exports to Thailand's major overseas markets soared by 15.5 per cent on average last month, or a 7.3 per cent increase to Japan, a 16.7 per cent increase to the United States and a 24.5 per cent jump to the European Union (EU), and that Thai exports to high potential markets also increased, by 18 per cent to other countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and by 74.1 per cent to Hong Kong; while Thai exports to less potential markets rose by 20.5 per cent on average, although Thailand's shipments to Austria alone soared by 44.4 per cent. Vatchari said the value of Thai exports expanded by 20.9 per cent in major industries and 7.2 per cent in agricultural and agro-industrial sectors. The senior official noted, however, that Thailand posted a trade deficit of some 5.49 billion baht last month, when the value of imports totaled 23.76 billion baht, a 40.87 per cent year-on-year surge, boosted mainly by the appreciation of the Thai baht, with imports of capital goods rising by 36.4 per cent, vehicles and transport equipment by 70.3 per cent, auto parts by 76.4 per cent and cars by 48.9 per cent. According to the senior official, the Commerce Ministry is not concerned over Thailand's trade deficit last month because it resulted mainly from the imports of capital goods, gold and aircraft during the baht appreciation. The senior official assessed that Thailand's trade deficit should be limited throughout this year because of the recovering exports, and that the value of Thai exports should grow by 8-9 per cent on average this year, totally worth about 250 billion baht. (TNA)