Apiradi Tantraporn, director-general of the Foreign Trade Department, said last week that garments accounted for 52.1 per cent, or $2.96 billion, of the total.

The biggest export market for Thai clothing and textiles is the United States, valued at $1.78 billion in the first 10 months of the year.

In the same period, Thai imports increased by 0.2 per cent to $2.48 billion. However, 93.3 per cent were fabrics worth $2.31 billion, used as raw materials to produce items for re-export.

Apiradi said the baht's strength would affect the country's textile exports. Moreover, a labour shortage and higher wages have reduced Thailand's export competitiveness with major rivals such as Vietnam and Indonesia.

Sanitaryware :Star lowers sights

Star Sanitaryware has lowered its sales growth target for next year from 20 per cent to 15 per cent because of the stronger baht, managing director Somchai Wongarun said last week.

Somchai accepted that the currency's strength would have a negative impact on the firm's exports but said it was changing its business strategy to focus on the middle to high-end market, where customers are less concerned about higher prices.

Currently, 85 per cent of the company's sales are from exports.

Star Sanitaryware announced sales of Bt150.56 million and a net profit of Bt4.8 million for the first nine months of the year.

APEC meeting :SME access targeted

The media advisory for the 14th Small and Medium Enterprises Ministerial Meeting and Working Group will be held in Hobart, Australia, from March 4-9.

With more than 49 million SMEs in the Asia-Pacific region, the meeting of ministers and representatives from the Australian and international SME community will play a vital role in improving market access for SMEs in the Apec (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum) region.

Apec is working to help SMEs and micro-enterprises take advantage of new opportunities in the global economy in areas such as tariff reduction, free-trade agreements, and improvements in technology and e-commerce.

The Ministerial Meeting and Working Group programme includes a series of workshops and dialogues involving government and small-business representatives. It will seek to build on the momentum established at previous Apec meetings and make a contribution to Apec 2007, to be hosted by Australia.