Thailand's FTA Utilisation Hits Record Bt2.8 Trillion in 2025 as ASEAN and China Drive Growth

Summary

Thailand’s use of free trade agreement (FTA) preferences for exports reached a record Bt2.8 trillion in 2025, up 8.36 per cent from the previous year, with an overall utilisation rate of 82.26 per cent. ASEAN under the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA) and China under the ASEAN–China Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA) remained the top two destinations, together accounting for over 64 per cent of total FTA-supported exports. The strong performance highlights Thailand’s deepening integration with regional partners but also raises questions about over-reliance on a few key markets amid global trade uncertainties.

Recount of Events

According to the Department of Foreign Trade (DFT), Thailand’s FTA preference utilisation in 2025 totalled Bt2.8 trillion. The top three FTAs by value were:

• ASEAN (ATIGA): Bt1.03 trillion (utilisation rate 72.45 per cent)

• ASEAN–China (ACFTA): Bt782 billion (utilisation rate 96.11 per cent)

• ASEAN–India (AIFTA): Bt306 billion (utilisation rate 72.93 per cent)

The five products with the highest FTA utilisation were motor vehicles for the transport of goods, fresh durians, synthetic rubber mixed with natural rubber, unwrought platinum, and prepared chicken meat. Agricultural and agro-processed products accounted for 27.27 per cent of total utilisation (Bt776 billion), led by fresh durians to China. Industrial products made up the remaining 72.73 per cent (Bt2.04 trillion).

Notable growth was seen under AIFTA, where jewellery and unwrought platinum surged dramatically due to stronger Indian demand and higher mineral prices.

Analysis

From an Indonesian vantage point, Thailand’s record FTA utilisation is both impressive and instructive. While we celebrate our own strong performance under ACFTA and ATIGA, Thailand’s 96.11 per cent utilisation rate under ACFTA shows what disciplined focus on a few high-value partners can achieve. Fresh durians alone generated over Bt132 billion in exports to China — a clear reminder that targeted market access and consistent rules-of-origin compliance can deliver outsized results.

Yet the figures also highlight risks. Over 64 per cent of Thailand’s FTA-supported exports flowed to just two partners (ASEAN and China). For Indonesia, which sends significant volumes of nickel, palm oil and coal to the same markets, this concentration raises the same strategic question: what happens when external shocks — whether new tariffs, geopolitical tensions or supply-chain disruptions — hit those key routes?

Thailand’s success in industrial products (72.73 per cent of utilisation) versus agriculture (27.27 per cent) also offers lessons. Indonesia has huge potential in both upstream commodities and downstream processing, but our FTA utilisation rates in several agreements still lag. The strong performance of motor vehicles and synthetic rubber under multiple FTAs suggests that building integrated regional value chains — rather than competing head-to-head — delivers the biggest gains.

Hard questions remain for ASEAN as a whole:

• With utilisation rates varying so widely (56 per cent under TAFTA versus 96 per cent under ACFTA), why hasn’t the bloc pushed harder for harmonised rules of origin and mutual recognition to make FTAs genuinely easier to use?

• Given the success of durians and chicken meat, why aren’t more ASEAN countries collaborating on joint agricultural export strategies and cold-chain infrastructure instead of competing for the same buyers?

  
  

Thailand has shown what consistent FTA utilisation can deliver. For the rest of ASEAN — particularly Indonesia as we push nickel and EV-related exports — the takeaway is clear: high utilisation rates are not automatic. They require focused policy, strong private-sector engagement and continuous improvement in logistics and compliance. The countries that treat FTAs as strategic tools rather than paper agreements will capture the greatest share of regional value chains in the years ahead.