The Ministry of Commerce has unveiled its plan to penetrate markets in the second half of the year, focusing on specific regions, countries, and cities. They are preparing to organize numerous activities, including teams dedicated to specific products, targeting customer groups, collaborating with retailers and importers to promote Thai products, and enhancing trade services while encouraging investments. They are confident that this will help achieve the annual export growth target of 3%.

          On July 3, 2019, Ms. Chutima Bunyaprasertsri, the Deputy Minister of Commerce, announced that she has assigned the Department of International Trade Promotion to develop a plan to drive exports in the second half of 2019, aiming to meet the set target of 3% growth for the year. The strategy will focus on penetrating markets by region, country, and even down to specific cities and secondary cities with potential, to create opportunities for expanding Thai exports, enhancing trade services, and promoting Thai investments abroad.

          In the Americas, the focus will be on expanding markets by industry, particularly those benefiting from the trade war, targeting medium and small importers, which number around 200,000. The strategy includes market segmentation, accelerating the promotion of the image of Thai products, services, and brands to create a ripple effect among consumers. In the Chinese market, the emphasis will be on promoting target products that are in demand, particularly health and beauty products and service businesses, while penetrating secondary cities through activities in collaboration with importers and department stores.

          For promoting Thai products, especially in the ASEAN market, the focus will be on building networks with businesses from China that are relocating their production bases to ASEAN, to support Thai products in entering the value chain and promoting Thai investments in ASEAN, particularly in CLMV countries, to take advantage of GSP for exports to the U.S. and the European Union. The strategy also includes penetrating secondary cities to push local products into the ASEAN market, promoting cross-border trade, and encouraging new product exports, as well as enhancing the image of Thai products and services.

          In the South Asian market, efforts will be made to strengthen high-level relationships to promote cooperation, utilizing FTAs to reduce barriers and tariffs, and targeting 8 states and 8 cities that are secondary cities in India. In the Latin American market, the focus will be on exchanging visits by high-level trade delegations to increase trade and investment opportunities. In the East Asian and Australian markets, plans are in place to link provincial cooperation between Thailand and Japan. In the Middle Eastern market, the focus will be on organizing trade delegations, participating in trade shows, and finding ways to reduce logistics costs. In the African market, the emphasis will be on establishing strategic economic partnerships and penetrating landlocked countries.

          In the European market, the focus will be on economic partnerships, collaborating with the private sector in the UK and France to promote SME products in the market, publicizing Thai food through bloggers and influencers, pushing local products into the market through Lotus stores, and collaborating on product development through innovation and targeting specific groups. In the Russian and CIS markets, support will be given for negotiations on the Thailand-Eurasian Economic Union FTA, promoting cooperation between the public and private sectors, and creating networks for importers and logistics.

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