BANGKOK, July 24 — Thailand’s exports in June dropped by a bigger-than-expected 23.17 per cent from a year earlier, the weakest pace since July 2009, as the coronavirus pandemic hit global demand, the commerce ministry said on Friday.
The decline compared with a Reuters poll forecast for a fall of 15.5 per cent in exports, and against May’s 22.5 per cent contraction.
Exports, a key driver of Thai growth, could decline by 8 to 9 per cent this year, Pimchanok Vonkorpon, head of the ministry’s Trade Policy and Strategy Office, told a briefing.
“Exports should have bottomed out but a recovery may not be fast,” she said, adding exports had fallen by 15.2 per cent year-on-year in the second quarter.
Most export markets contracted in June, but shipments to the United States rose 14.5 per cent from year earlier and ones to China increased 12 per cent, Pimchanok said.
The June export fall was led by shipments of cars and car parts, which tumbled 43.2 per cent from a year earlier, while gold exports fell 86 per cent and plastic pellets were down 15 per cent.
In the first half of 2020, exports decreased 7.09 per cent from a year earlier.
— Reuters
