Thailand: Shippers predict 5% export growth in March

• Apr 22, 2017

Thai shipments are expected to have recorded 5% growth in March, boosted by the global economic recovery and higher oil prices after a 2.8% dip in February, exporters say.
Nopporn Thepsithar, president of Thai National Shippers’ Council (TNSC), said accelerated imports by countries fearing a fallout from growing US-North Korea tensions and the protectionist trade policies of US President Donald Trump were a boon to Thai shippers in March and should continue to be for many months to come.
Exports slid in February after three months of increases, mainly because of lower shipments of gold and aircraft.
The Commerce Ministry reported that exports fell by 2.8% year-on-year in February to UScopy8.47 billion after rising 8.8% in January, 6.2% in December and 10.2% in November.
The ministry attributed the February dip to a high 2016 base month, driven by gold and aircraft exports.
When excluding gold and aircraft, exports in February rose 8.5% from a year earlier, indicating that Thailand’s shipments are still on the upswing.
In February 2016, Thai exports posted an unexpected rise, growing for the first time in 14 months, driven mainly by gold and special hardware for military exercises. The Customs Department included helicopters and vehicles imported for military drills in those export figures.
This February, imports rose 20.4% year-on-year to copy6.86 billion, yielding a trade surplus of copy.6 billion.
For the first two months of 2017, Thailand’s exports rose 2.5% year-on-year to fetch $35.56 billion. Imports for the period tallied $33.13 billion, up 12.4%.
Mr Nopporn said Thai exports may still deal with foreign exchange volatility for a while, but it is less likely to affect shippers much because most have used hedging to cover the risk.
The TNSC is maintaining its export forecast of 2-3% growth this year.
In a related development, Commerce Minister Apiradi Tantraporn said she had assigned Thai commercial counsellors worldwide to evaluate and report on trade and investment conditions in their parts of the globe, as geopolitical relationships may affect the performance of Thai exports.
The counsellors were also ordered to step up organising trade activities during the second quarter to boost exports.

Source: http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/news/1236294/shippers-predict-5-export-growth-in-march