Thailand's garment export is expected to grow by 3-5 percent in2015 and around 2 percent this year due to the possible loss of taxprivilege export to the European Union and the slower recovery theUnited States.

President of the Thai Garment ManufacturersAssociation Thavorn Kanokvaleewong said the association expected nextyear's garment growth to stand at 3 percent, however, it could reach 5percent if the global economic conditions are in good shape.

The association also predicted that the Thai garment export will grow 2percent this year to about 3 billion USD, driven mainly by speedyefforts by exporters to ship more to the EU for fear of the possibletermination of the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) in Europeancountries early next year, according to Bangkok Post.

If theGSP is cut, Thai goods including garments exported to the EU would besubject to a 12 percent import tariff from January 1, 2015, up from thecurrent 9.6 percent, making Thai shipments less competitive in the EUmarket, particularly against Vietnamese products.

More Thai manufacturers, particularly medium and large-scale operators,may relocate their production bases to Vietnam or Myanmar to copewith the possible GSP cut by the EU, labour shortage and anticipatedlower tariffs in those nations in light of the free trade andTrans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreements.

For thefirst eight months of this year, Thai garment shipments fetched 1.95billion USD, a slight increase of 1 percent from the same period lastyear. However, they are expected to soar in the remaining months due tothe festive season spending spree.-VNA