BANGKOK (XINHUA) – Thailand’s exports continued to expand for the fourth straight month in November, but at a slower rate due to significant growth in agricultural product shipments and recovering demand from major trading partners, official data showed yesterday.
Exports, a key driver of the Southeast Asian country’s economic growth, rose 4.9 per cent last month from a year earlier to USD23.47 billion, according to data by the Ministry of Commerce.
The reading was attributed to a strong improvement in rice exports, while industrial product shipments continued to grow consistently, driven by advance purchases before the year-end festivities, the ministry said in a statement.
A breakdown of the data revealed that Thailand’s export of agricultural products increased 7.7 per cent year-on-year, down from a 12.3-per-cent jump in the previous month, while agro-industrial goods expanded 1.7 per cent year-on-year, down from a 5.9-per-cent rise in October.
Industrial product shipments rose 3.4 per cent from a year earlier, slowing from a 5.4-per-cent climb in the previous month owing to expansions of iron and steel products, electrical products, and machinery and component exports.
The data also indicated Thailand’s imports jumped 10.1 per cent from a year earlier to USD25.87 billion in November, resulting in a trade deficit of USD2.39 billion.
For the first 11 months of the year, the kingdom’s exports fell 1.5 per cent from a year earlier, while imports dropped 3.8 per cent, yielding a trade deficit of USD6.16, according to the ministry.
