Thailand Imports Notch Record High

2026-04-24 07:15 By Farida Husna 1 min. read

Thailand’s imports surged 35.7% yoy to a record peak of USD 38.5 billion in March 2026, accelerating from a 31.8% rise in the prior month and marking the fastest growth since August 2021.

The strong expansion was driven by resilient domestic demand amid government stimulus measures aimed at boosting consumption and investment, even as trade flows faced disruptions from the Middle East conflict, which also pushed up energy and logistics costs.

Purchases grew for other products (150.5%), raw materials, semi-finished products (64.4%), capital goods (28.3%), transport equipment (8.1%), and consumer goods (7.7%), but fell for fuel (-5.7%).

By commodity, imports rose for gold, jewelry (154.7%), circuit boards (144.0%), electrical machinery (82.7%), other metal ores, scrap metal (33.5%), computers (25.3%), chemicals (18.2%), home appliances (12.5%), and iron, steel (5.5%); but shrank for crude oil (-6.5%).

In the first three months of the year, purchases gained 32.4% to USD 105.7 billion.



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Thailand Imports Notch Record High
Thailand’s imports surged 35.7% yoy to a record peak of USD 38.5 billion in March 2026, accelerating from a 31.8% rise in the prior month and marking the fastest growth since August 2021. The strong expansion was driven by resilient domestic demand amid government stimulus measures aimed at boosting consumption and investment, even as trade flows faced disruptions from the Middle East conflict, which also pushed up energy and logistics costs. Purchases grew for other products (150.5%), raw materials, semi-finished products (64.4%), capital goods (28.3%), transport equipment (8.1%), and consumer goods (7.7%), but fell for fuel (-5.7%). By commodity, imports rose for gold, jewelry (154.7%), circuit boards (144.0%), electrical machinery (82.7%), other metal ores, scrap metal (33.5%), computers (25.3%), chemicals (18.2%), home appliances (12.5%), and iron, steel (5.5%); but shrank for crude oil (-6.5%). In the first three months of the year, purchases gained 32.4% to USD 105.7 billion.
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Thailand’s imports surged 29.4% yoy to a record peak of USD 34.88 billion in January 2026, sharply accelerating from a 18.8% growth in the previous month and extending gains for a 20th consecutive month. It was also the fastest pace in purchases since December 2022, boosted by solid domestic demand on the back of government support measures to boost spending ahead of February's general election. Purchases grew for raw materials, semi-finished products (50.3%), capital goods (29.5%), other products (10.4%), consumer goods (7.9%), transport equipment (1.7%), while falling for fuels (-1.4%). By commodity, imports increased for circuit boards (197.9%), electrical machinery & components (60.5%), machinery & components (15.1%), jewelry (89.9%), other metal ores, scrap metal (19.3%), computers and components (12.8%), chemicals (1.9%), and home appliances (10.3%), (22.); but declined for crude oil (-5.6%), and iron, steel (-5.4%). In 2025, imports grew 12.9% to USD 344.94 billion.
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