Exports contracted more than expected last month, hitting their lowest level since November 2011, when severe flooding closed thousands of factories.
The Commerce Ministry yesterday reported January shipments plunged 8.91% year-on-year to a value of US$15.7 billion, marking the 13th straight month of decline.
"It's clear the global economy has yet to recover," said Somkiat Triratpan, director of the Office of Trade Policy and Strategy. "Low oil prices have taken a toll on the purchasing power of oil-producing countries and oil-related products, while most global farm prices remain low and volatile foreign exchange has hurt export prices."
January exports of agricultural and agribusiness products fell by 4.1% year-on-year to $2.46 billion due mainly to lower shipments of rubber (-25.7%), tuna (-15.1%) frozen, processed shrimp (-19.2%), tapioca products (-19.6%) and frozen and processed chicken (-2.3%).
Exports of industrial products fell by 8.5% to $12.5 billion, led by weakness in oil-related products such as finished oil, chemicals and plastic pellets as well as gold and electrical appliances, which declined sharply due to a shift in production base.
Shipments fell for most markets except for Indochina and Australia.
Last month, exports to China, Thailand's second-biggest market after the US, dropped by 6.1% year-on-year and to Europe by 2.4%. Shipments to the US dropped 8.5% last month and to Japan by 10.1%.
Imports slipped 12.4% year-on-year last month to $15.5 billion, led by declines of 40.7% in fuel and 15.3% in raw materials and semi-finished products.
Thailand managed a January trade surplus of $238 million.
Deputy Commerce Minister Suvit Maesincee said the Commerce Ministry would maintain its export growth target of 5% for this year despite January's 8.91% decline and the poor global conditions.
Exports fell for a third straight year in 2015 to a value of US$214 billion, down by 5.78% from 2014 and the biggest decline since the US debt crisis sent exports tumbling 14.3% in 2009.
Shipments fell by 0.3% in 2013 and 0.4% in 2014 after rises of 2.93% in 2012, 15.2% in 2011 and 26.8% in 2010.
Imports totalled $203 billion last year, down by 11% from 2014 and giving Thailand a trade surplus of $11.7 billion.
The poor performance was blamed on the slow pace of the global economic recovery and falling oil prices.
"It's just one month of bad exports, and we're sticking to our target of 5% [export growth] this year," Mr Suvit said.
"We believe the situation will improve in the following months, as the ministry is working harder with relevant state agencies and the private sector to drive exports, particularly the trade in services."
However, he admitted the global trade and investment structure had substantially changed, prompting each country to focus more on self-sufficiency and reduce imports and exports of goods.
Sompop Manarungsan, president of the Panyapiwat Institute of Technology, said the continuing export contraction clearly demonstrated Thai shipments faced structural problems due to the global paradigm shift in which countries that used to sell natural resources as raw materials had switched to making their own products and were expected to be capable themselves of exporting in the near future.
HSBC's Thailand economist Nalin Chutchotitham said little had changed for Thailand's export trend in recent months.
The latest figures suggest Thailand must count on domestic demand and tourism to boost growth in the medium term, she said.