Garment exports likely to slow down

08 Jun '07

3 min read

Garment exports in the first 4 months of 2007 were valued at US $910.3 million, falling 5.9 percent from the same period of last year. The export value in the last half of this year also looks worrisome because the economy of the US, which is a key importer, is showing a slowing trend.

Moreover, the Baht's exchange value which has been rising since the end of 2006 and will have a severe impact in the last half of this year, limiting the aggregate value of Thailand's garment exports for the entirety of 2007 around $3,050 million, a growth falling to around 5 percent compared to 2006, when exports grew 1.7 percent.

This is the first time the export value has fallen in around 4
years since 2003. The initial export figures of the Ministry of Commerce show that Thailand's garment exports in the first 4 months of 2007 had fallen in the key category of garments.

Beginning with cotton-made garments, of which the export proportion has been the highest at around 45.7 percent of the total garment exports, they exhibited a fall of 13.1 percent to a value of $478.2 million. This was followed by a 4.2 percent fall in baby garments with an export value at $68.9 million and garments made of wool or fine animal hair also falling by 51.5 percent.

Meanwhile, garment types of which their export values increased include garments made from synthetic filament yarns totaling around 24.7 percent of the aggregate garment exports and valued at $224.6 million, represented an increase of 4.9 percent, plus silk garments with an export value of $4.5 million, increasing 86.0 percent.

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