Bangkok, (NNT) – The Ministry of Commerce pushed for exporters to use the existing FTA and GSP benefits in the first quarter of this year, which have amounted to 18 billion dollars and accounted for a 2.38% increase from the same period last year.

Those included 16.7 billion dollars in benefits from 12 FTA agreements. The mostly-used FTA benefits were the Thailand-Chile FTA, followed by the Thailand-Peru FTA, the Thailand-Japan FTA, the ASEAN-China FTA and the ASEAN-South Korea FTA respectively.

The highest values of exported goods were of pickup trucks, rubber products, sugar made of sugarcane and oil. Five GSP systems have been mostly used, including those of the United States, Switzerland, Russia, Norway and Japan, amounting to 1.29 billion dollars in the first quarter. Ninety-two percent of all GSP systems was provided by the U.S.

Foreign Trade Department Director General Adul Chotinisakorn said this year’s exports under FTA and GSP systems have been targeted by more than 80 billion dollars, accounting for a 9% increase from last year.