The value of Thailand's cross-border and transit trade in the first six months of the year stood at over 912 billion baht, an increase of 3.6% on the same period last year, which the government attributed to the increased promotion of cross-border trade over the past several months.
Citing figures released by the Department of Foreign Trade, government spokesman Chai Wacharonke said that during the past six months, the country's cross-border trade and transit trade -- defined as trade with third countries which take place via Thailand's border checkpoints -- was valued at 912.28 billion baht.
Cross-border and transit exports were valued at 534.3 billion baht in the first six months of 2024, an increase of 3.1% from figures reported in the same period last year.
Meanwhile, the value of cross-border imports came to about 188 billion baht.
Cross-border trade with Laos was valued at 150.6 billion baht, followed by 149.3 billion baht with Malaysia, 106.6 billion baht with Myanmar and 86.7 billion baht with Cambodia.
Meanwhile, transit trade to third countries in the first six months of 2024 came to 418.8 billion baht, up 4.8% from the previous year, with exports valued at 228.8 billion baht, while imports were valued at 189.9 billion baht.
In the first half of 2024, the value of transit trade to China was highest at 244 billion baht, or a 14.3% increase from the same period last year, followed by 53 billion baht to Singapore, and 36 billion baht to Vietnam.
Thailand's top cross-border exports include fresh durian, valued at 67 billion baht, hard-disk drives (40.9 billion baht), and technically specified natural rubber or block rubber (19.5 billion baht), Mr Chai said.
The uptick was due to the government's active policy to increase the value of cross-border and transit trade, which is in line with Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin's instructions for all government agencies to monitor the trade situation closely, he said.
Mr Chai added that a border trade fair will be held in Songkhla from Friday to Sunday to further promote cross-border trade.
The fair will feature a trade show, seminars for entrepreneurs and online business matching activities.
The event is being organised by the Department of Internal Trade, the Export-Import Bank of Thailand, and the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Bank and the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives.
