BANGKOK -- Thailand's customs-cleared exports rose for a second month in April, though less than expected, but the government is still confident of achieving its export target for the year.
Exports rose 8.5% in April from a year earlier after March's 9.2% jump, commerce ministry data showed on Monday. A Reuters poll expected an annual rise of 11.3% in April.
In January-April, exports rose 5.7% from a year earlier, the highest annual growth rate in six years, Pimchanok Vonkhorporn, an official at the Commerce Ministry, said at a briefing. That makes the ministry confident of hitting its 5% export growth this year, she said.
Shipments, worth about two-thirds of Southeast Asia's second-largest economy, rose a modest 0.45% in 2016, the first annual gain in four years, according to the ministry.
Imports in April rose 13.4% from a year earlier, compared with the forecast of a 17.0% increase and March's 19.3% jump.
The April trade numbers produced a trade surplus of only $0.06 billion, compared with a poll forecast of $0.3 billion and a $1.62 billion surplus in March.
Many of the materials Thailand imports are assembled into completed goods and shipped out again.