Thailand will import more US LNG in the next five years.

Thailand will import more LNG from the United States in the next five-year period, said Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira on Wednesday. This was ahead of next week's meeting with U.S. officials to discuss tariffs.

He said that there is an agreement for the import of 1 million metric tonnes of LNG valued at $500 million in 2020 as part of a plan to total 15 million tons over 15 years starting in 2026.

Pichai stated that Thailand plans to sign an additional contract worth $600 million for the purchase of more than 1,000,000 tons of U.S. LNG over the next five-year period.

He added that Thailand imports LNG and wants to become a distributor of the gas in the region. Therefore, it will need to import even more.

Pichai also said that the country plans to import U.S. Ethane in quantities of 400,000 tons worth $100 million within the next four-year period.

His comments come ahead of next week's talks between Thai officials and U.S. representatives. Thailand is one of the Southeast Asian countries hardest hit by President Donald Trump's threat to levy export duties. The tariffs are 36%.

In order to reach a better agreement, the government said that it would increase its imports of U.S. products, including corn, soybean meal and crude oil, as well as ethane and LNG, aircraft, electronics, and autos. The government would also be open to importing U.S. beef, offal and liquor. However, no pork for the time being.

The government also announced that it would promote more Thai investments in the United States, and crackdown on false claims made about the origins of products shipped from Thailand to America.

Pichai, after a meeting at the central bank said that the government worked closely with Bank of Thailand to consider measures to reduce the impact of tariffs for exporters.

Pichai said that the 36% tariff announced in this month could reduce growth by one percentage point for Southeast Asia's 2nd largest economy.

The government had set a growth target of 3% for this year compared to 2.5% in the previous year. This was far behind most other countries in the region. Reporting by Orathai Shriring, Kitiphong Thailandchareon and Thanadech Staporncharnchai. Editing by John Mair & David Goodman

(source: Reuters)