Exports Will Bottom Out

NONTHABURI, July 24 (TNA) -- Exports in the first half of this year dropped by 7.09% due to COVID-19 impacts and the Commerce Ministry expects the exports will bottom out in the second half. Pimchanok Vonkorporn, director-general of the ministry’s Trade Policy and Strategy Office, said that exports in June plunged by 23.17% year-on-year and showed the worst pace in 131 months. Export value was at US$16.44 billion. In the first half of this year, exports dropped by 7.09% to US$114.34 billion. She attributed the decline to the second spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 in many countries and low oil prices. Refined oil exports fell by 36.3%, cars and parts 43.2%, machinery and parts 31.8%, gold 86% and rice 25.6%. Ms Pimchanok believed that exports would be bottoming out, saying they were slowly improving in many markets and would show an overall contraction of 8-9% throughout this year. Imports in June went down by 18.05% to US$14.84 billion. Imports in the first six months were estimated at US$103.64 billion, down by 12.62%. The country posted its trade surplus worth US$1.61 billion in June and US$10.70 billion in the first half of 2020. Ms Pimchanok expressed concerns about the decreasing rice export and her office predicted its volume at about 6 million ton this year. (TNA)