BANGKOK, 12 July 2012 – The Thai Industries Federation is predicting that the country’s textile and garment exports will shrink considerably this year, due to the fallout from the global economic problems.
Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) Vice President Vallop Vitanakorn commented on Wednesday that the Eurozone debt crisis and the problem in Chinese economy could pose considerable impact on Thailand’s exports of textile products and garment in 2012.
Mr. Vallop expected the fallout to shrink Thai textile and garment exports by as much as 15 percent this year because of a drop in purchase orders from Europe, brought on by higher Thai produce prices and the new 300-baht daily minimum wage.
He said that the higher cost in Thailand has driven a number of business operators to relocate their production bases to neighboring countries.
The FTI Vice President is also worried that the new daily minimum wage may force some local entrepreneurs, particularly those located in the upcountry, to shut down, due to rising logistics costs and inferior quality of labor when compared with Bangkok.
