Presiding over the seminar on the textile industry, permanent secretary of the Ministry of Industry Witoon Simachokdee said the industry has potential to further increase its market share. Thailand should focus on the ASEAN market in preparation for the free flow of goods and integration of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) beginning in 2015.

This opens up the way for Thailand to move forward as the region's major supplier of textiles, yarns and fabric for apparel manufacturing. The lack of raw-material supplies in other ASEAN nations has allowed Thailand to boost exports. Therefore, the textile and garment industries here are expected to benefit the most from Asean's integration.

According to President of the Thai Textile Manufacturing Association (TMA) Pongsak Assakun and chairman of the ASEAN Federation of Textile Industries (AFTEX), AFTEX has cooperated with ASEAN member countries, matching textile manufacturers from Thailand and Indonesia with apparel makers in Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia, and Vietnam, to help strengthening the competitiveness of the ASEAN textile industry in comparison with that of non-ASEAN member countries. The cooperation will enable member countries to work together to cope with currency volatility, and solve the problems of material shortages.