The Commerce Ministry says it wants Thailand to become one of the largest exporters in Asia by 2027.
According to Phusit Ratanakul Sereroengrit, director-general of the International Trade Promotion Department in the ministry, the department commissioned a five-year action plan from 2023-27 to improve trade competitiveness, with the aim of becoming one of the five largest exporters in Asia by 2027.
Thailand ranks eighth in Asia for trade competitiveness according to ratings conducted by the Institute for Management Development, following Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, China, India, South Korea and Taiwan.
Based on export value statistics, in 2021 Thailand was the ninth-largest exporter in Asia following China/Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, India, Vietnam and Malaysia.
In 2022, Thai exports tallied US$287 billion, accounting for 1.24% of total international trade, ranking the country No.24 in the world.
According to Mr Phusit, under the action plan the ministry plans to focus on strengthening and promoting Thai entrepreneurs for international trade activities, promoting value addition for Thai products and services, enlarging distribution channels for Thai products and services, and upgrading the quality of the ministry's services.
For this year, the ministry wants to organise up to 450 activities to stimulate exports, focusing mainly on four potential markets: the Middle East; South Asia; China; and Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.
The export promotion activities comprise trade missions, participation in international trade fairs, business matching, and in-store promotions at leading department stores and on e-commerce channels.
The ministry also wants to maintain traditional markets such as the US, Canada, the EU, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Asean, Australia, New Zealand, Africa and Latin America.
Mr Phusit said the department also plans to open new trade markets with potential in Central Asia, such as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, along with the Nordic countries Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.
He said the citizens of these countries enjoy relatively high purchasing power.
In terms of e-commerce, the department aims to increase the number of TOPTHAI Store online outlets available via Amazon.com (the US), eBay (the US and Australia), Lazada (Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines and Vietnam), AbouThai (Hong Kong and China), and Pinkoi (Taiwan, South Korea and Japan).
TOPTHAI Store outlets are available on seven trading platforms in nine countries, namely Amazon (the US), Tmall (under Alibaba Group [China]), Bigbasket (India), Klangthai (Cambodia), Blibli (Indonesia), PChome (Taiwan) and Shopee (Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines).
Mr Phusit said the products targeted to help stimulate exports include: farm and food products (especially the future food category); pet food; the bio-, circular and green economic model products (especially lifestyle and fashion, packaging, health and beauty products); certain industrial products such as automobiles and auto parts; gems and jewellery; agricultural machinery; electrical appliances; and electronics.
The ministry wants to grow exports by 1-2% this year to $290-293 billion, up from $287 billion last year.
