Title: The impact of trade facilitation on automotive export performance of Thailand

Authors: Sufiana Sarisae; Muhammad Irwan Ariffin; Rokiah Alavi

Addresses: Department of Economics, International Islamic University Malaysia, Jalan Gombak, 53100 Selangor, Malaysia ' Department of Economics, International Islamic University Malaysia, Jalan Gombak, 53100 Selangor, Malaysia ' Department of Economics, International Islamic University Malaysia, Jalan Gombak, 53100 Selangor, Malaysia

Abstract: This study examines the impact of trade facilitation on the export performance of Thailand's automotive sector. It employs augmented gravity model using panel data over five-year irregular period (2007, 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016) and 97 country pairs between Thailand and Thailand's importing countries. Seven indicators are used as proxies for trade facilitation which are overall logistics performance index (LPI) and its six components: 1) customs; 2) infrastructure; 3) international shipment; 4) logistics quality and competence; 5) tracking and tracing; 6) timeliness. The initial result indicates that overall LPI is not a significant factor to automotive export. A further investigation shows that three components of the trade facilitation index have positive impact on Thailand's automotive export; namely infrastructure, tracking and tracing, and timeliness; while the other three are not significant. Additionally, income level of importing countries, common land border, and common membership of regional trade agreement between Thailand and its trading partners positively affect automotive export of Thailand. However, the impact of distance in international automotive trade of Thailand seems to be declining over time, which may be due to rapid technological progress and the locations of high purchasing power countries that are far from Thailand.

Keywords: international trade; trade facilitation; trade cost; logistic performance index; automotive industry; Thailand.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEPEE.2023.132537

International Journal of Economic Policy in Emerging Economies, 2023 Vol.17 No.4, pp.505 - 523

Received: 03 Oct 2019
Accepted: 23 Jul 2020
Published online: 27 Jul 2023 *

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