Privilege use drops among exporters due to outbreak

The use of free trade agreement (FTA) privileges and the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) by Thai exporters tallied US$62.3 billion in 2020, down 10.5% from a year before, mainly attributed to the pandemic.

Of the total, the use of FTA privileges contributed $58.1 billion, down 11.4% year-on-year, while shipments under the GSP stood at $4.2 billion, up 5.03%, said Keerati Rushchano, director-general of the Foreign Trade Department.

The top five export markets with the highest use of FTA privileges were Asean ($19.3 billion), China ($19 billion), Australia ($6.9 billion), Japan ($6.4 billion) and India ($3.3 billion).

Products that made the most use of privileges were synthetic rubber products mixed with natural rubber, fruit, trucks of up to five tonnes, air conditioners and tapioca.

Thailand has 13 FTAs in place, including the Thailand-New Zealand FTA,…