Abstract:
The study analyzes the impact of Chinas export growth on Thailands export by separating the products which are disaggregated by 3-digit SITC, into 9 groups based on the production technology. The analysis consists of two parts. The first part compares Thailands export competitiveness with Chinas export using the constant market share model (CMS). The study is divided into 3 sub-periods namely, before Thailands economic crisis in 1992 to 1997, the recovery period of 1997 to 2002, and the most recent from period of 2002 to 2007. The second part examines the effect of the increased market share of Chinas export in the world market on Thailands exports using panel data during 1992 to 2007. The study results in the first part show that in all sub-periods Thailands export growth relied on the expansion of the world market. Thailand lost the export competitiveness to China in almost all product groups except for automotive products, chemical and besic metal products. The findings in the second part indicate that an increase in Chinas export market share on the world market clearly adversely affected Thailands exports in the following product groups: primary products, resource-based products, labor-intensive products, low-tech manufactured products, and chemical and besic metal products. However, Thailands export were able to grow along with Chinas in the product groups of agro-based manufactured products, automotive products, engineering products, and electronic and electrical products. Both parts conclude that unless Thailand improved its competitiveness, its exports would be at a greater disadvantage compared to the Chinese exports.