However, the increase was irregularly large due to significant exports of gold and military-drill equipment, neither of which strictly benefits the economy or trading.

Excluding oil and gold, February exports grew by 2.4 per cent, year on year.

Following the rise in gold prices last month, gold exports increased strongly by 1,051 per cent year on year to $1.89 billion.

Exports of military-drill equipment were worth about $683 million.

If these two products, along with the export of oil, were excluded from the February figures, Thai shipments would still be in negative territory – some 2 per cent lower than in the same month last year – as exports of both agricultural products and industrial goods continued to decline.

Deputy Commerce Minister Suvit Maesincee said yesterday that exports looked set to be back in positive territory for the remainder of the year, due to the brighter outlook for global trading.

However, there are still many negative factors affecting trading, including drought and resultant lower agricultural output, fluctuating exchange rates, terrorism, and the global economic slowdown, notably in China, he warned.

“Thai shipments should remain positive in the remainder of the year, despite some still worrying factors. The ministry will try to achieve the 5-per-cent export growth target under our working plans,” he said.

Exports of many products, including jewellery and ornaments, sugar, rice, fruits, chicken, hard-disk drives, auto parts, and plastic products, have already recovered to post positive growth, he added.

The ministry reported that total shipments in January and February had risen slightly, by 0.67 per cent year on year, to $34.7 billion.

Last month alone, Thailand had a trade surplus of $4.98 billion.

Drop in import value

During the month, import value dropped 16.82 per cent year on year to $14 billion.

Combined import value in the first two months came in at $29.48 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 14.54 per cent, resulting in a trade surplus of $5.22 billion for the period.

The deputy minister also said that foreign direct investment (FDI) into Thailand was now expected to be worth around Bt600 billion to Bt700 billion this year.

FDI in the first two months was valued at Bt32.44 billion, nearly double the inward investment of Bt16.5 billion generated during the same period last year.

Some 187 projects sought Board of Investment privileges in January and February, while the number of projects approved in the period was 249.

The value of new FDI reached Bt12.5 billion in the first two months, compared with just Bt2.86 billion during the same period in 2015.