Thai food exports on the rise

BANGKOK, October 17 (TNA) - The Federation of Thai Industries (FTI), the Board of Trade of Thailand (BTT) and the National Food Institute (NFI) say that the country's food exports are expected to keep expanding until next year, thanks to the growing world economy, low production costs and rising supply. NFI President Yongvut Saovapruk told journalists of the joint assessment on the Thai food exports by the three relevant private institutes on Tuesday, foreseeing that Thai food exports should stand at 1.03 trillion baht in 2017, an about 8.4 per cent year-on-year increase, and should further expand to 1.12 trillion baht in 2018, an about 8.7 per cent year-on-year increase. Yongvut acknowledged that the expanding Thai food exports have been boosted by not only the growing world economy and rising global demand due to outbreaks of bird flu in East Asia and safety concerns over Brazilian meat, but also comparably low production costs and rising supply in Thailand. The NFI chief stressed that Thai food exports are likely to continue growing in 2018 to reach about 1.12 trillion baht, a 8.7 per cent year-on-year increase, with major markets for Thai food exports including other member countries in the ASEAN Community (AC), Japan, the United States, China and Africa at about 30 per cent, 14 per cent, 10 per cent and 9 per cent respectively. The NFI chief pointed out that the prices of major Thai food exports on the world market have also been on the rise, including rice, chicken and shrimp, while the energy prices have dropped to a low level. (TNA)