Thailand's exports down 25.7 per cent in July

Aug 19, 2009, 7:28 GMT

   Bangkok - Thailand's exports were worth 12.9 billion dollars in July, down 25.7 per cent year-on-year, but showed a slight improvement over June's figures, the Commerce Ministry announced Wednesday.

   Imports for last month amounted to 12.3 billion dollars, down 32.5 per cent year-on-year, leaving the kingdom with a 706-million-dollar trade surplus.

   'Overall, it was another bad month for us,' Commerce Ministry spokesman Krisda Piampongsant conceded.

   While July's trade figures were still poor compared with the same month in 2008 - a boom year for Thai exports - Krisda noted that there had been a slight improvement over June's performance.

   'Compared with June, the July exports are better by 4.6 per cent, whereas imports improved by 7.1 per cent compared with June,' Krisda said.

   In the first seven months of this year Thailand's exports reached 81.1 billion dollars, down 23.9 per cent, while imports hit 69.4 billion dollars, leaving an 11.7-billion-dollar trade surplus.

   Only the jewelry and animal feed stock sectors have seen rising exports this year, with gold up 120.3 per cent in value during the first seven months.

   Thailand's three main export sectors - electronics, electrical appliances and automotive - have all seen sharp declines of between 20 and 30 per cent this year, as demand in major markets dried up.

   Exports to all of Thailand's main markets fell in the January-July period. Shipments to South-East Asia dropped 35.4 per cent, to the EU 31.8 per cent, Japan 24.6 per cent, the US 26.1 per cent and China 18.8 per cent.

   'So I assume the West has not yet recovered,' Krisda said.