Srirat Rastapana, director-general of the Export Promotion Department, said the food exports in particular would recover to growth of as much as 10% after dropping by 7.37% in 2009 to US$19.56 billion, mainly because of the global recession.

Recovering prospects for the food sector have been attributed largely to the global economic recovery, lower production in several food-producing countries due to poor weather, and the elimination of tariffs under the Asean Free Trade Area (Afta).

''The private sector also expects Thailand will be able to export more food and rice this year as the global economy continues to recover and crops in competing countries have been damaged by natural disasters,'' Mrs Srirat said.

The National Food Institute (NFI) recently forecast that Thailand's food exports would grow by 10% per year to 1.1 trillion baht by 2014, from 750 billion baht last year, with innovation and food safety paving the way.

The institute forecasts export growth this year in a range of 7.5% to 10% to between 793 billion and 826 billion baht, spurred by global recovery.

Food currently accounts for 8.3% of the country's export value. Exports to the US, the EU, Japan, and Asean accounted for about 15% each.

Supapat Ongsangkoon, director of the International Trade Training Institute under the Export Promotion Department, said the country's fashion and textile industries in 2010 were also expected to grow by as much as 13%.

The industry would benefit from the integration of Asean free trade area agreements, the Japan-Thailand Economic Partnership Agreement and the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Exports by the country's fashion and textile industries grew by only 2% last year to $17 billion.