Bangkok (VNA) – The Thailand’s Commerce Industry haswarned the strengthening baht will affect high-value industrial products withfew imported raw materials such as rubber products, canned and processedseafood, gems and jewelry.
Poonpong Naiyanapakorn, director general of the Trade Policy andStrategy Office (TPSO), affirmed the baht surged to 32-33 baht per USD comparedwith 35-36 baht per USD last December.
Poonpong said although the extent of the impact of the bahtappreciation on export performance is not on par with the effect of a weakening global economy and economic slowdown in key trading partners, a strong bahtdirectly affects the competitiveness of Thai products, making them moreexpensive than those of other exporting countries.
The export value is also subject to a reductiononce converted from the US dollar, resulting in a decline in revenue or profitsfor exporters.
However, the baht's gain positively affects imports,particularly of energy, capital goods, raw materials and semi-finished goods. Semi-finished goods account for 83.8% of total imports and a more robust bahtreduces the costs of such imported products to make finished products forre-export.
The office estimated the domestic market for colour cosmeticsat 811 million USD (26 billion baht) in 2022, up 12.1% from the year before,with an outlook for 896 million USD this year.
Outbound shipments of beauty and personal careproducts tallied 3.25 billion USD in 2022, up 6.6% from a yearearlier. Key export markets include Japan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Australiaand China./.