BANGKOK: Thailand's February customs-cleared exports rose 9.9% from a year earlier, driven by electronics and electrical equipment, the commerce ministry said on Tuesday, slower than January and well below analyst expectations.
Exports, a key driver of the Thai economy, should maintain their growth this year, although shipments could slow in March due to higher fuel prices and transportation costs and the impacts of the Middle East war, ministry official Natiya Suchinda told a briefing.
* The February reading compared with a forecast rise of 15.8% in a Reuters poll and followed January's 24.4% increase.
* Imports rose 31.8% in February from a year earlier, leading to a trade deficit of $2.83 billion in the month.
* In the first two months of 2026, exports rose 17% year-on-year.
* Natiya said the ministry will in April review its full-year forecast for exports, which currently ranges from a fall of 3.1% to a rise of 1.1%. Thailand's exports rose 12.9% last year.
* Shipments to the U.S., Thailand's largest market, surged 40.5% in February from a year earlier, while exports to China rose 0.4%.
* The ministry is maintaining its forecast for rice exports at 7 million metric tons this year, Arada Fuangtong, head of the ministry's foreign trade department, told a separate briefing, adding rice shipments could miss expectations because of the war.
* In a worst-case scenario, if there are no rice exports to the Middle East, total rice shipments may drop by 1 million tons in 2026, Arada said.
* Last year, Thailand exported 1.34 million tons of rice to the Middle East, with 75% going to Iraq.
* In the first two months of 2026, rice exports dropped 4.16% year-on-year to 1.15 million tons.
* The weaker baht has helped exporters, but it was not enough to offset higher freight costs, Arada said. The baht has weakened by 3.8% against the dollar so far this year after a 9% rise last year. - Reuters
