Thai baht surpassed others in Asia to rise by 4 percent against US dollar as of late February, and is predicted to be one of the best-performing currencies in the region.
The Thai baht has staged a strong recovery against US dollar after suffering a brief sell-off earlier this year, but the Thai Government is increasingly worried that continual strength in the currency could hit exports.
Rice exports of Thailand in 2018 will be less than the target growth of 9.5 percent due to strong baht and decrease in rice production, said the Thai Rice Exporters Association (TREA).
Number of foreign arrivals to Thailand hit a record high of 3.5 million in December 2017, jumping 16 percent year on year.
Thai exporters have asked the Government and the Bank of Thailand (BoT) to find ways to curb the baht’s rapid gains to maintain the country’s competitiveness in export.
The Thai Rice Exporters Association has expressed concern that the strong baht is likely to curb rice exports in 2018, Thai media reported on December 12.
Thailand’s exports in June enjoyed sustained growth of 11.7 percent year on year, despite its currency baht remained strong, according to the country’s Ministry of Commerce.
Thailand’s rice exports in the second half of this year may miss the target due to serious shortage of labourers at seaports as a direct result of the new foreign workers law.
