The government expects cross-border trade prospects to fare better than an earlier forecast thanks to buyers' confidence in the quality of Thai products and the economic recovery of neighbouring countries.
The bullish forecast also stems from efforts by the ministry to address traffic congestion at border checkpoints.
Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanawisit said on Friday overall cross-border trade, including transit trade, is likely to grow by 4-5% this year, up from a 3% increase projected earlier.
The value of overall cross-border trade including transit trade is estimated at between 796.8 billion and 804.5 billion baht, up from 789.1 billion baht predicted earlier.
Transit trade involves the passage of goods through more than one country.
Mr Jurin revealed that cross-border trade, including transit trade, tallied 1.2 trillion baht between January and September, up 31.6% from the same period last year.
Of the total, exports made up 778.3 billion baht, up 38%, while imports rose 22.7% to 497.1 billion baht.
Last year, overall border trade including transit trade declined 1.7% from the previous year to 1.31 trillion baht.
The drop was attributed to the pandemic and border checkpoint closures in an effort to curb the spread of Covid-19, in addition to the strong baht.
Examining last year's figures in detail, exports represented 766 billion baht, down 2.16% year-on-year, while imports shrank by 1.05% to 553 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of 213 billion.
"Cross-border trade was very active this year, as in the first nine months we already achieved 778.3 billion baht," he said. "For the remaining three months of the year, the ministry remains bullish about cross-border trade performance and believe the whole-year growth figures will outpace 3% in the previous projection."
According to Mr Jurin, the ministry also pledged to continue talks with neighbouring countries as well as China to expedite the reopening of checkpoints to boost cross-border trade.
Thailand has reopened 46 checkpoints, with 51 still closed due to the pandemic.
Earlier this month, during the meeting with Chinese ambassador Han Zhiqiang, Mr Jurin called on China to accelerate the reopening of its cross-border checkpoints to stimulate cross-border trade and imports of chicken and edible bird's nests from Thailand.
He has also asked Mr Han to act as an intermediary to convince the Chinese government to reopen the Mohan and Guan Lei checkpoints in Yunnan.
Thailand has also asked China to add more chicken imports such as whole chicken and consider more imports of edible bird's nests from Thailand.
Currently, China imports edible bird's nests just from two Thai companies.