Containers are loaded at the Bangkok Port, Thailand. (Photo: AFP/VNA) Bangkok (VNA) - Thailand's customs-based exports fell 10.9% in March from a year earlier, weaker than analysts' expectations while exports to China and Japan fell 9.7% and 19.3%, respectively, according to the Ministry of Commerce.
The decline is higher than the forecast of a 4.5% year-on-year fall for March in a Reuters poll and followed a 3.6% increase in February.
The country's exports fell 0.2% in the first quarter of this year but agriculture and computer parts will help shipments recover and expand 2% in the second quarter, Director-General of the Trade Policy and Strategy Office Poonpong Naiyanapakorn told a press conference.
Exports, a key driver of Southeast Asia's second-largest economy, unexpectedly shrank 0.6% in the final quarter of 2023 from the third quarter, prompting the state planning agency to cut its 2024 growth outlook to between 2.2%-3.2% from the 2.7%-3.7% earlier projected.
According to Chaichan Chareonsuk, Chairman of the Thai National Shippers Council, if the baht remained around current levels it could help drive sales of auto parts, fruits and agricultural products./.
