Thailand’s textile and garment exports continued to grow in the first quarter of this year, increasing by 9 percent to 1.67 billion USD, according to the Department of Foreign Trade. Department Director General Rachane Potjanasuntorn said on May 7 that the country’s exports of garments were worth 868.3 million USD, while textile export reached 803.1 million USD during the January-March period. The US still became Thailand’s largest textile and garment importer with 523.2 million USD, up 12.3 percent. The EU and Japan came second and third with 326.3 USD and 69.4 million USD, up 15.1 and 4.8 percent, respectively. The country’s textile imports in the first quarter of this year totalled 697.1 million USD, down 2 percent from the same period last year, according to the Thai News Agency (TNA).