According to Vallop Vitanakorn, an adviser to theAssociation of Thai Garment Manufacturers, the minimal depreciation ofThai baht and deflation in the European Union were continuing to weighheavily on the industry after it lost EU import duty privileges forapparel early this year.
Since many negative factors have hitglobal economic expansion, the association needs to trim its exporttarget for this year with the resignation of 4 percent contraction fromgarment exporters, instead of zero or two percent expansion, he added.
The fall in garment exports would be the first in the past few years since the severe flooding in Thailand in the late 2011.
Thaigarment shipments last year were flat at around 2.9 billion USD,although general clothes have been hit by the currency problem.
Therecovery in the United States, which is a major export market for Thaigarments, was too slow, while buyers have focused more on Vietnam andother countries with cheaper labour, according to Bangkok Postnewspaper.
The US is still a major market for Thai garments,accounting for 30 percent of exports, followed by the EU for 26 percent,Japan for 13 percent, and ASEAN for 7 percent.-VNA