BANGKOK, 16 August 2013 Commerce Minister Niwatthamrong Boonsongpaisal has indicated that the political unrest in Egypt could potentially harm the export of canned seafood from Thailand.
According to the Commerce Minister, Thailand mainly exports canned seafood, auto parts and rubber products to Egypt. Due to political violence in Egypt, he said Thailand could lose a significant amount of revenue from its exports of these products to the country.
The Ministry of Commerce is putting more emphasis on exports to ASEAN countries and other markets to compensate for the impact from the political turmoil in Egypt. However, Mr. Niwatthamrong assured that the impact will not be as significant as previously anticipated. The export figure for the rest of the year is still being assessed.
The Commerce Minister also projected that the export sector will benefit from the baht value which is now weaker than the first half of this year while pointing out that foreign buyers tend to import products from Thailand more in the latter half of every year. He said if all goes well, the Thai export should have expanded by as much as 7% by year’s end.
