NONTHABURI (Thailand), Aug 17 — Lockdown easing relieves the contraction of border trade and its value is likely to exceed 1 trillion baht this year, reports Thai News Agency (TNA) according to the Department of Foreign Trade.
The department’s Director-General Keerati Rushchano said the value of border trade including cargoes in transit in the first half of this year amounted to US$20.11 billion (627.48 billion baht), down by 9.18 per cent from the same period last year.
The value consisted of exports worth 365.21 billion baht, down by 8.60 per cent, and imports worth 262.27 billion baht, down by 9.98 per cent. During the period, Thailand posted a border trade surplus of 102.93 billion baht.
Regarding border trade, Malaysia was the biggest trading partner with the trade value of 109.40 billion baht, down by 26.81 per cent, followed by Laos with 92.28 billion baht (-7.09 per cent), Myanmar 86.74 billion baht (-13.65 per cent), and Cambodia 82.02 billion baht (+2.27 per cent).
Regarding trade in transit cargoes, China was the biggest trading partner with the trade value of 109.89 billion baht in the first half of 2020, up by 16 per cent, followed by Singapore with 41.69 billion baht (+13.70 per cent) and Vietnam with 29.90 billion baht (-23.89 per cent).
Keerati said that the value of border trade was improving over the past two months after the government had eased its business lockdown measures.
He expected the border trade value throughout this year to still exceed 1 trillion baht. Earlier his department had forecasted the value at 1.5 trillion baht. (US$1 = 31.20 baht) — Bernama
